Formidable
by Seamitar X
Summary: Another world...so it wasn't my overactive imagination...? It still doesn't make sense And he's here again...there's at least that... Note: This is a continuation of The Husk, you should go read my previous story first if you want to understand this. I am working on a submit your own OC story here: /s/13533961/1/Aftermath, I'm accepting until I have enough
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This**** is a**** continuation THE HUSK, a story I wrote a while ago. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy as this will be more of an actual story than the previous two! By the way, a huge shout out to everyone who actually comes from the other stories and continues to keep up with them! I don't have a lot of spare time and it takes me a while to figure the story out, but I think this is the best out of the three (mostly because it's a more average length than the other two)**

I ran into another tree. Honestly, it was like a Pokemon had used Supersonic on me, I had no idea where in Aspertia I was, what the year was, what the day was, anything. Then, for some reason, I blacked out near someone's house.

Third-person POV

Nate's mom was walking to her house when she got a call from an old friend.

"Oh, hi!" someone speaks on the other line, "Why, Aurea Juniper! It's been far too long! What can I do for you?"

The other person speaks for a few seconds, "Wow! A Pokédex... For my child? Why, that's great! I think a journey would be a wonderful experience!"

Juniper talks for a few more seconds, "What now? She's already here? Oh, for Pete's sake. You never change. Once you've decided on something, you just start going. OK! Bianca, right? A big, green hat. Got it. OK! No worries!"

She hung up the Xtransceiver. She walked up to the doorstep and noticed a little girl, blacked out. Hurriedly she picked up the girl and ran inside her house.

Yancy POV

I woke up somewhere that looked unfamiliar. Two people were standing over me, a woman with the complexion and facial expressions of a mother, and a boy with wild, brown hair and brown eyes.

"She's awake, mom," the boy said, he looked my age, or at least my age in this universe.

"Oh! How are you feeling sweetie?" she asked me.

"Um… fine?" I reply.

"That's great!" she said, smiling, "Now I need to talk to my son, Nate, about something. Could you excuse us?"

I was dumbfounded, "Uh… sure…"

Nate POV

"What do we need to talk about?" I ask.

She smirks, "Well, first of all, I think that girl is cute."

I blush slightly, "Mom, are you being serious?"

She holds up her hands in mock defense, "No, my friend Professor Juniper just called."

My attention snapped towards my mom, everyone knew what happened if Professor Juniper called. It meant you had extreme potential as a trainer, she only ever selected three kids per 2 years to have a rare Pokemon and a Pokedex.

My mom laughed, "I take it you know what happens after this?"

I nod vigorously.

"There's someone named Bianca coming, look for a big green hat, and, do me a favor, take that young girl with you, she's still a little out of it."

I nod, less vigorously, and walk back to where the girl was.

Yancy POV

I had heard the whole conversation. Of course I had blushed through part of it, but I knew what year it was based off of the conversation.

"Are you feeling a little better?" he asked.

"Uh…" I was blushing profusely, "Yeah."

He looked at me inquisitively, "Well, I'm going to get my partner and a Pokedex, you wanna come?"

"Sure," I said, toning down the blush and following him out of the house.

We had barely walked 20 feet when an older boy, of about 13 called Nate's name.

"Where ya going, Nate?" he asked.

Nate looked giddy, "To get my first partner."

The older boy smiled, "That's great!" he looked at me, "Who is this?"

"Oh, I'm Yancy." I reply.

He smirked, "Already drawing in the girls, I see."

Nate blushed, "N-no, she was j-just hurt." There was something familiar about that cherry curtain of blush… I'm thinking that I know who this is.

The boy laughed, "I'm kidding. I'm Hugh."

I nod, trying my hardest not to blush.

"We should battle after you choose your partner! Of course, I'll take it easy on you."

Hugh ended up following us to find the girl with the green hat, Bianca (she was at Aspertia's lookout) I knew who Nate would choose before we even got there, but I wasn't about to try and scare them by telling them I was from an alternate universe and a different time.

Bianca and Nate talked for a couple minutes, and then he grabbed an Oshawott and a Pokedex.

Nate showed the Oshawott (whom he dubbed Watt Jr. after his father's Oshawott) to us, "These are my friends."

Hugh POV

"Osha, osha...osha."

Yancy POV

"I remember you, you're a friend… his friend."

Nate and I both looked at the Oshawott, "You heard that, right?"

Hugh looked at him, confused, "You mean the, 'Osha osha,' yeah?"

Nate then turned to me, "He said, he...remembers you...have you met before?"

Watt Jr. walked up to me, "We'll talk later. For now I want to battle him!"

He turned, pulling off his scalchop and pointing it at Hugh.

"Well, someone's feeling brave," Nate commented.

At this point, Hugh pulled out his Snivy, "I hatched Cor from an eg-"

"You've only told me a million times," Nate said, rolling his eyes.

Bianca, the judge, shouted, "Begin!"

"Watt Jr.! Water Gun!"

Hugh laughed, "I thought you knew about type matchups?!"

Nate smirked, "I do."

The Water Gun had been shot up in the sky and was falling down rapidly.

"Now! Tackle!"

Watt Jr. jumped at the move and was enveloped in it, speeding towards the ground and Snivy.

Out of the crowd that had started to form, someone yelled, "That's Aqua Jet! It allows the user to move faster than before!"

Hugh was appalled, "How were you able to teach it that? You just got it."

Nate shrugged, "I didn't, I just strategized."

Watt Jr. was now running circles around Cor.

"Cor! Slow it down with Leaf Tornado!"

Watt Jr. jumped up as the move was used and jumped from leaf to leaf.

"Jump into the eye and use Tackle!"

He slammed down with the combination of Aqua Jet and a Tackle transformed into Slam.

"Woah!" the crowd cheered.

I was shocked. I knew Zander/Nate was battle hardened, but I didn't know he was this good from an early age.

Cor was down on one knee and Hugh was shocked at how much damage the attack caused.

"Alright Watt Jr.! Use Leer!"

Watt Jr. started staring at staring menacingly at Cor.

Hugh was starting to lose his cool, "Cor! Grab him with Vine Whip!"

A navy green plant rushed at the Oshawott.

"Block it with your scalchop!" Nate yelled.

Watt Jr. did so, stopping the vine in its tracks. Then, he grabbed the vine and used it to throw Cor up in the air.

"Aqua Jet!"

A jet of water charged at Cor, blasting him farther up in the air.

"Now, Bubble Beam," Nate said calmly.

A trail of bubbles cushioned the fainted Snivy's descent.

"Return, Snivy," Hugh said, "Well, I'll admit I'm impressed."

As the crowd dispersed, there was a lot of, "Did you see that?!" and, "The best part was when…"

I walked up to Nate, "Where did you learn to battle like that?!"

He picked up Watt Jr., "My father taught me a lot from an early age. He was the old Hoenn champion, he knew a lot."

"Maybe you could teach me a little bit?" I ask.

"Sure," he replies, "I'm going on to Route 19, you're coming, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," I reply.

He smiles, "Great! Let's go!"

He ran ahead and I jogged to catch up.

"Should I tell him?" I thought to myself, "I don't want to deter him though…"

"You coming?"

This pulled me out of my thoughts, "Yeah I was just thinking."

He stopped, "Oh, ok," He kept going.

"Hey, Nate! You can't go out without a Pokemon!"

Nate turned, "Oh! You've got an Oshawott with you!" said the receptionist.

Nate walked up to the receptionist, "Yeah, this is Watt Jr."

"Osha!"

"And who is this?" she asked.

"This is Yancy, she's with me."

The receptionist chuckled, "Just a friend?" She asked with a sly smirk.

Nate thought nothing of this and just walked by.

"You know I'm joking!" The receptionist called to him, giving him a Potion should he need to heal his Pokémon.

We walked to Route 19 and the second we got there, Zander was battling left and right. He would battle trainers, wild Pokemon, anything.

"Why are you doing so much battling?" I ask at one point.

His expression turned dark, darker than I thought was possible for someone that was 12, "Can I trust you?"

"What do you mean?" I ask politely.

"Can you keep a secret?" He responded, glaring daggers at me.

Why was he so hostile suddenly? "Of course I can."

He looked at the ground, "I lied. My dad didn't teach me any of that."

I was confused, was this what he was worried about?

"That's not all," he said, as if reading my mind, "I taught myself everything there is to know about battling. I've already read ancient texts about strategy, legendaries, and anything else. If I really wanted to, I could've beat Hugh even worse back there, hell, I could beat the Champion if I really wanted to."

"What does this have to do with your dark expression?" I ask.

"I was getting to that," he says, "Last year, my father sought out the legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo. He was never heard from again. He was replaced and is now nothing but a footnote in the history of Hoenn's Champions. Since then, Mewtwo has been rampaging in a region called Kalos. A lot of people have been brutally murdered by its Psychic powers and the height of its intellect. My father got himself killed trying to stop Mewtwo, and now he's being blamed for people's deaths while he's in his grave."

His expression turned furious. For a second I thought I saw a fire blazing in his eyes, a real fire, but it was just a trick of the light.

"My goal is to become the most powerful trainer to ever exist, and exact my revenge on Mewtwo. It may be a Pokémon, but it's evolved into a serial killer more intelligent than any Pokémon or human alive. Except for maybe Alakazam."

At this point he looked on the verge of tears.

I went over to hug him, "I'm fine," he said, trying to put on a smile.

I hugged him anyway.

I distinctly remember The Husk Nate mentioning his father getting killed five years prior (he was 15) by Mewtwo. Was this something that wouldn't change? No matter the timeline?

Watt Jr. came up and hugged Nate as well.

"I'm almost level fifteen, if you want to keep training," Watt Jr. says.

"Sure," Nate replied, patting his head.

Watt Jr. took the opportunity to snatch Nate's visor. Nate laughed.

It made me smile to see him show happiness. Of course, I still had my hopes up that this Zand- I mean- Nate, had feelings for me. Not to mention, so far some things matched up with both Zanders/Nates that I had encountered.

He spent the rest of the afternoon training on Routes 19 and 20, until Watt Jr. was a Dewott. This was just after fighting a Youngster with a Rattata (he was an annoying little bitch)

"I can't wait to see the look on Hugh's face when he sees that I already have a Dewott!" Nate exclaimed.

He proceeded onto the steps of Floccesy Ranch before stopping.

He turned around, "Don't you have anywhere to be?"

I froze. I hadn't thought about that since getting here. I mean, now that I thought about it, I'm surprised my dad hadn't called me yet. I did have an Xtransceiver… Unless… I never existed in this world before.

"Nope," I responded, cheerfully, "My parents were hoping I could start on my own journey anyways."

He seemed to buy my lie, "What Pokémon did they give you?"

I reached into the pocket where my Poke Balls usually were. Only one. it felt a little strange considering I used to have 5. I pull it out anyway, guessing what it is.

"Toge-piiiiiii!" It exclaimed.

"Does it have a nickname?" He asked.

I was stuck in mild shock. Had my Togekiss devolved? Was it the same one? When she looked at me I could tell she was.

Was The Husk that powerful?

"Tokei," I respond, trying to make it look like I hadn't made it up on the fly.

He looks at me, puzzled, "Clock in Japanese?"

Shit, "Yeah, because Metronome sounds like a clock ticking."

He still looks a little puzzled, "Well…you're not wrong…"

I breathe a sigh of relief, "Well, we may as well go ahead."

When we walk in, a couple asks us if we've seen a Herdier.

"He usually doesn't wa-"

They were interrupted by Hugh challenging Nate to a battle.

"I don't have ti-"

"We have plenty of time," Hugh replies.

Nate starts to get pissed off, "Fine."

He pulls out Watt Jr., Hugh pulls out Cor.

Before Hugh can say a single command, Nate turns around and flicks his hand. At first nothing happened except Watt Jr. nodding, but then, the temperature dropped 60 degrees, into much below freezing.

Nate wheels around and shouts, "Blizzard!"

A huge horizontal tornado of ice and snowy wind is flung at Cor with a slam.

The temperature promptly returned to a cool 10 degrees Celsius.

Hugh was dumbfounded. I mean, I was too, but his face was pure confusion.

"I said I didn't have the time," Nate says, walking away with Watt Jr.

He came back a few minutes later with the other Herdier barking and happily licking Nate.

He hands it to the owner, "A Neo Team Plasma member kidnapped him."

Hugh stood up ramrod straight, "Did you say Team Plasma?"

Then he promptly ran back to Route 20.

Nate and I walked back to Aspertia in silence.

"So, why are we going back to Aspertia?" I ask.

"Cheren, a Gym leader, is at the trainer's school in Aspertia."

He said this coldly, with every amount of spite that he could manage. I can't figure out why, but it just dawned on me.

What had The Husk said? 'You can do more good there.'

Something along those lines, but I think I understand what he meant. This Nate was broken, hurt. He needed someone. It made me wonder if this was the only universe where there was a Nate hurt this bad. Was it the only one with someone so rage-filled that he could accomplish any task that he set his mind to? Just because his power was out of anyone else's league?

I decided this was a good time to tell him, "Um...I...am not...uh…"

He stops, "You thought that now was a good time to talk to me?"

I look at him, "Whaddya mean?"

He looks back at me, "I'm guessing that you're going to say that you like me?"

I look at him again,my heart skips a beat, "Uh, no…"

"Oh," he says...disappointedly?

"I was…" I try to think of some excuse, him talking about emotions threw me off.

He was trying his hardest not to smirk, was his intention to throw me off?

"Going to ask how you plan on beating the gym leaders. I know you're powerful, but these are the strongest trainers in Unova. Only one in every thousand challengers win," I say, rambling to keep him from suspecting.

He frowns, "You're nervous."

Shit, it backfired, "Today's just been…eventful…"

He stares at me. And this isn't a normal stare, this is an I'm-trying-to-judge- your-emotions-so-I'm-going-to-stare-into-your-soul stare.

He shrugs, "Well, I guess it's your problem if you don't want to tell me what's going on."

We kept walking in silence for a while. Well, it felt like a while, but it was really about twenty minutes. We eventually stopped at a school. Not even a big one, just a 20's style schoolhouse.

"This is the gym?" I ask.

In my world, the first gym was a renovated house, but I guess differences are to be expected in an alternate universe.

"Don't underestimate its appearance," Nate said, walking in.

Then he threw open the doors to the gym, and I was face-to-face with a ghost.

Team Nate:

Name: Watt Jr. Species: Dewott Level: 18 Nature: Brave Moveset: Focus Energy, Water Pulse, Razor Shell, Blizzard


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey guys! I'm going to try and post more often because I have the story furthered until just before the third badge. I think you guys might be mildly surprised in the future, but it's also kind of predictable. Lemme just say that you should be on the lookout for hints or clues! Anyways, thank you all for taking the time to read my story and I will reply to reviews to the best of my ability and I encourage you to suggest things as I will listen more often than not.

"What the hell is going on?!" I say, forcefully.

Naturally, he acts nonchalant, "A young lady like you shouldn't use foul language like that."

I was a little rattled. I was told that my family didn't exist by multiple people in this world, and yet here he was. My brother, Kain.

"I'm sorry, I was a little surprised," I say, mocking sincerity.

He chuckles, "It's ok, ladies are always surprised by my overwhelming aura.

I can hear Nate growl off to my left, "I hate pompous bastards like this."

Kain laughs, "All right. You wanna call me a pompous bastard? Why don't we settle it in a battle?"

He shines the Basic Badge that he has pinned to his bracelet, "I doubt a pipsqueak like you could beat someone with a badge."

Nate takes a rational approach, despite being angry, "I don't fight pointless battles."

Kain laughs, "You need an incentive? Alright, winner gets a kiss on the cheek from her."

He points to me.

"Hold on! I did not agree to this!" I yell.

Nate looks at me, "I agree. She deserves a say in it."

"Sheesh," Kain says, "You kids are so bratty."

Nate looks at me, a little pleadingly, "Please let me kick his ass," he whispers.

I contemplate for a second, "Fine," I growl.

Kain chuckles, sounding a little like a madman, "You're going down."

They both pull out a Poke Ball.

"Oh, I forgot to say," Kain says, slyly, "It's six-on-six."

My eyes widen. Nate only has Dewott and this guy has six Pokémon. I know that Nate is insanely powerful, but can he take on a team of six different Pokémon…

Nate looks unperturbed, "Alright."

They send out their first Pokémon, Dewott vs. Mareep.

"Mareep! Thundershock!"

"Dewott, bring out your scalchops and then use Water Pulse!"

The lightning attack went straight through the water, which only generated more power.

"NATE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I scream.

He smiles, "Pay more attention."

I look over to the Mareep…KO'd. What? When!?

"How!?" Kain yelled, clearly as confused as me.

"I had Dewott use Water Pulse on purpose to generate more electricity," Nate explains, "Watt Jr. then deflected the more powerful attack back at you using his scalchops."

Kain returned his Mareep to its Poke Ball, "Swadloon!"

"Focus Energy," Nate said calmly.

"QUICK WHILE HE'S CHARGING! RAZOR LEAF!"

The attack flew at Watt Jr. at blinding speeds. Nate was clearly expecting this because of what happened next.

The leaves fell to the ground, frozen…and so did Swadloon.

Nate decided that it was worth it to explain his attack, "I had Watt Jr. use Focus Energy because it flashes for a short amount of time blinding everyone but the user. Then, I had him freeze the Razor Leaf and send it back at Swadloon while it was blinded."

Kain was shocked again, "Psyduck!"

The goofy duck popped out of its Poke Ball, "Use Confusion!"

"Razor Shell," Nate said, clearly almost laughing.

Then Kain laughed, "It's a psychic wave! You can't send it back at me!"

"You think I was trying to?"

This got Kain's attention, "The Dewott isn't damaged?"

"Focus Energy! Water Pulse!" Nate said.

The powered up Water Pulse hit the Psyduck, confusing it, which I'm sure was Nate's intention.

Kain kept screaming commands, to no avail. Eventually the Psyduck KO'd itself in its confusion.

Kain was pissed off at this point, "Tranquill!"

"No need," Nate said, having KO'd the Tranquill with Blizzard right away.

"Tepig!"

"Razor Shell."

Another KO. Nate had already whittled him down to his last Pokémon.

"RIOLU!" Kain screamed in frustration, "FEINT!"

The Riolu tried to fake out Watt Jr. to attack, but left himself open in the process.

"Blizzard," Nate said with nothing but a wave.

SLAM! An instant KO.

"I...Im…Impossible…" Kain stammered out.

"Next time make sure you have the bite to match the bark," Nate said, walking by him.

He just walked out in a daze.

"Well, time to battle Cher-"

I cut him off with a kiss on the cheek.

"Um...that...was the victory condition," I say through blush.

"R-right," Nate says, blushing worse than me.

"Excuse me," another voice said, shocking us out of our blush.

"I couldn't help but notice your battle," he said, addressing Nate, "You have quite the skill."

"Thank you Mr. Cheren," Nate replied, looking happy that he had drawn a gym leader's attention.

Cheren waves dismissively, "Oh please, just Cheren. And thank you, I haven't seen a battle like in a couple years."

He zones out, a wistful look on his face, "I couldn't have done that well in my hay day as a trainer. Anyway, I take it you're here to challenge me?"

Nate nods, "Okay, come this way then."

He led us to the back of the arena where a simple stage was set up for a battle, there was even a small crowd gathered. They all looked excited at the prospect of another battle.

Cheren turned to me, "You're not here to battle, correct?"

"No," I say, "I'm just...support."

He nods, "Well, I suggest you go into the stands, it's a lot less dangerous there.

A little reluctantly, I walk over to the stands.

A middle-aged woman next to me asks, "Is this your first time seeing a gym battle?"

"Yes," I lie.

"Oh, well they're usually really exciting!"

I look over to Nate, he already is standing back-to-back with Watt Jr., both their arms crossed in a bad-ass pose.

"You two are a well-oiled team," Cheren comments, bringing out a Poke Ball.

"We know," Nate says, smirking a little.

His demeanor changes severely when he's battling.

"Patrat, come on out," Cheren says, not bothering to make the first move.

I can tell already that this puts Nate at a disadvantage. His strategy is usually to turn an opponent's moves against them, Cheren must've seen that in Nate's battle with Kain. He really does have the brain of a good trainer.

"Focus Energy!" "Work Up!" They shout at the same time.

Both surround themselves in an aura. One that boosts Attack and Special Attack and one that increases the chance of critical hits.

Cheren decides to be brave, "Bite!"

"Razor Shell!"

The Patrat bit down on one scalchop sword while Watt Jr. swung the other one up to slam the Patrat in the stomach, somehow KO'ing it right away.

"Such power!" Someone in the audience says.

"So cool!" Another says.

"Impressive," Cheren says, very clearly impressed, "You were able not only to block the brute force of my Patrat's Bite, you were able to damage it while doing so and then hit it again."

Nate nods, "What can I say, we make a good team."

Cheren brings another Poke Ball, "Yes, I will admit that you're good."

Cheren's next Pokemon was a Pidove, "Quick Attack!"

The Pidove was moving at unnatural speeds, no doubt in an attempt to dodge the Blizzard that its trainer knew was coming.

That didn't deter Nate though, who had Watt Jr. use Blizzard.

Cheren laughed a little, "I guess I can't prevent you from using the move."

That was when I realized what had actually happened. Watt Jr. had used Blizzard on the ground freezing Pidove in place.

"Blizzard," Nate said calmly as the attack hit point blank, KO'ing another one of Cheren's Pokémon.

"You know," Cheren started, "Despite the fact that I'm miserably losing, this is fun."

He then sent out his final Pokémon, a Herdier.

"I'm warning you, underestimating me is a bad thing to do."

"Who ever said I underestimated you?" Nate said.

Cheren made a gesture like he wasn't surprised, "You're probably the best trainer I've seen since Hilbert."

"Hilbert?" Nate said, confused, but intrigued.

"Yeah," Cheren nods, "An old friend. Supposedly he wanders around Unova with Zekrom protecting it. I mean, no one's seen him in two years."

Cheren took that moment to attack, "Giga Impact!"

The Herdier slammed straight into Watt Jr. with the force of a hurricane. Dust was in the air all over.

"Pretty good, huh?" Cheren says, "I may be immobilized, but you can't see with all this dust."

It took about two minutes for the dust to clear and when it did…

"Herdier is unable to battle! The challenger Nate wins!"

Cheren gawked at the sight, then returned Herdier chuckling.

"How'd you manage that?" He asked.

"I had Watt Jr. grab onto Herdier as they collided in order to keep track of its position and then attacked while it was recharging from the Giga Impact."

The audience applauded, "He not only took a super powerful attack, he turned it into an advantage for him!"

After this they dispersed, heading out of the arena and back into the trainer's school and Aspertia

"Well, I'd say this is well deserved," Cheren says, handing Nate the Basic Badge.

"Let's battle again sometime," Cheren says, smiling, "I could learn a lot from you."

Nate nods, and walks out of the arena.

"Wait up!" I shout, he turns around.

"Oh, sorry," he says, "I was so immersed in the battle. I forgot you were there."

He quickly realizes that what he said was a little offensive, he shakes his head, "I didn't mean that I forgot you existed, I just mea-"

"It's fine," I say, cutting him off lest he ramble on for an hour.

"So…" he says, "Do you still have nowhere to go?"

"Nope," I say, sounding as adamant as I can.

"So…" he continues, sounding nervous, "Are you just gonna follow me on my journey?"

I pause. I hadn't thought that far into the future. Should I try and see if I can get a record deal as a pop star in this universe? Should I just give up everything and lead a normal life? Maybe the acting business? I mean, as far as I know, this is where I'm spending the rest of my life...so I may as well make the most of it…

I take a mouthful of oxygen and hold it.

"I was hoping I could get a record deal as a pop star, actually," I let out.

"Oh," Nate says, sounding both relieved and disappointed.

"Yeah," I say, "I've always loved music and I think it would be cool to make a career from it."

"Are you going for that right now?" He asks.

I purse my lips, "Well that's what I was hoping."

He nods, "So, this is goodbye for now, huh?"

"I guess so," I say back.

"Well, bye," he says, giving me a hug.

I linger in the warm embrace of his arms and chest for a few minutes, then pull away.

"Goodbye," I say, walking down the street and onto Route 19.

Team Yancy:

Name: Tokei | Species: Togepi | Level: 15 | Nature: Timid | Moveset: Metronome, Yawn, Sweet Kiss, Psyshock.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the long hiatus! I've been busy getting over being sick and all. Anyways, as always, I listen to reviews so don't feel shy about posting one and I hope you enjoy!**

ONE MONTH LATER

Nate POV

I've been preparing for Roxie for a while now. A month to be exact. I still haven't caught another Pokémon, but I've worked out strategy and have leveled up Watt Jr. to level 32, I figured that's a good place to be at for the upcoming battle. Now that I've trained, I'm spending my free time catching another Pokémon, a Growlithe actually. I need something to cover my Grass-type weakness just in case I encounter a powerful Grass-type. That...and Growlithe is really cute.

"Grow-grow!" I hear in the grass next to me.

Knowing that I can't attack without KO'ing it, I throw a Great Ball.

_Click!_ The Pokédex starts spewing information on Growlithe.

"_Would you like to give it a nickname?_" It asks.

I click yes and input the name Iego. Not Lego, Iego, with an "i". Then I take him out of the ball.

"Hey there Iego!" I say to the puppy.

"What?" It says.

Weird, I can understand it. Just like Watt Jr.

"I know you must be confused and scared about being in captivity, but I promise you that you're gonna love me," I say with a smile.

He barks and wags his tail. A sign that he's happy. I did a little bit of study on Growlithes and they're really accepting of humans and when they get to know someone they are loyal to a fault.

"Are you okay if we start out training?" I ask.

He tilts his head, "Sure?"

"That's the spirit!" I say, my excitement invigorating Iego.

I hated to do it, but I put Iego through my roughest training regimen. By the end of it he was panting, but still happy and he was already level 25! So much for being hard to train.

"That's good for today," I say, returning him to his Great Ball.

I look up at the sky, it already looks about 6-7 o' clock, so I go to a high-end hotel in Virbank and check in.

"I'm sorry," the clerk says, "but services will be slightly delayed as we have a VIP guest with us at the moment."

"Ok," I say, not caring much.

When I get into my room, I let Iego and Watt Jr. out of their Balls.

They both curled up on the bed and fell right asleep, so I went into the living room and turned on the TV.

I flipped through the channels until one was at an insanely high amount of volume which scared me and caused me to slam the volume down button.

"And up-and-coming pop star Nancy is at Virbank for her last performance before her debut album _Entrenched_ drops next week."

So that was who the VIP was. This Nancy person has only been around for three weeks and has only been touring for that long yet she already has enough to put together an album. I'm not that into pop, but that takes skill as a singer/performer. She also looked very familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it. Maybe it was just all the training going to my head.

I couldn't remember when I fell asleep, but I woke up to the TV blaring Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life," and my Pokémon busting up as I sat bolt upright.

"Come on you guys," I chastise, "If you wanted to wake me up you could've just jumped on me."

I turned the volume on the TV down to a reasonable amount. I kept it on though because I love rock and "Bring Me to Life" is a great song. Then there was a knock at my door. At first I thought it was just housekeeping asking me if I needed anything, but when I answered it I realized I couldn't have been more wrong.

"Sorry to bug you," Nancy yawned, "but I was just wondering if you could turn the volume on the music down."

"Sorry about that," I apologize, "My Pokemon we're trying to wake me up and thought that that was the easiest way."

"Oh," she says, snickering a little, "Well thanks for talking to me like a normal person."

She starts to walk away, but I ask, "What do you mean, 'A normal person?'"

She turns around, "Well most people treat me like I'm royalty and try to heir on my good side because they think it'll get them somewhere, but it's nice to know some people still think I'm human and not a god or something."

She walks back down the hall, presumably back to her room.

I gathered all my items and organized them back in my bag. Today was the day. I'm going to challenge, and beat, Roxie.

I stepped out of my room and ran into Nancy, again.

"Sorry! Sorry!" I say as I crash into her multiple times.

"It's ok," she says, righting herself, "I was actually just about to ask what you were going to do today."

I frown, "Challenge Roxie, why?"

"I was going to offer a free ticket to you since you were nice to me earlier. My final song for my first album is going to be a mixture of rock and pop featuring Roxie's band," she says.

"Oh," I say, "Maybe."

She hands me a ticket and then goes back to her room. I can faintly hear singing from her room.

I shrug off the odd encounter and walk down the stairs handing my room key back to the front desk. I walk out the door to another odd encounter.

"Pfft," Kain says, "You couldn't beat Roxie if you had a legendary on your team."

Hugh laughs, "Says the guy who got his ass kicked using six Pokémon."

This gets Kain to shut up, "Fine," He scoffs, "I'll beat her before you."

I just walk by drawing the attention of them both.

"Hey!" They both shout, "I'm stronger now! You wanna see who'd win now?!"

I look back at them both, "I'm challenging Roxie. I'll battle later."

I walk past and down the road to the music club where Roxie performs and battles challengers. I take a breath and walk down the stairs. I push the door open. A ton of people are sitting in seats marked VIP, people are setting up lights and stage decorations.

"Ticket?" A guard asks.

"Actually, I'm a challenger," I say.

He grunts and points in the direction of Roxie. I walk around him and go over there.

"Who're you?" Roxie asks, noticing I'm walking towards her.

"A challenger," I say, "Nate Kyohei."

She nods in a brash manner and claps her hands. Immediately the stage is set for battle.

"Sorry I'm late!" A voice shouts, drawing a lot of people's attention.

"It's Nancy!" Some of the VIP people said, stating the obvious.

Some of the security guards kept the fans at bay while Nancy walked over to Roxie. Then she realized I was standing next to her.

"Oh! It's you!" She said, "So you actually are challenging Roxie!"

Roxie walks on stage, "A little warm-up show would be nice for the audience."

I nod and walk on-stage pulling out a Great Ball, "Would definitely fire them up."

"Go, Grimer!"

"Go Iego!"

I decide that she's more than likely going to use Disable, so I want to use a move that wouldn't matter and could be used once to the same effect.

"Flame Charge!"

"Disable!"

My attack hit the mark and I was right, not to mention I have a Speed boost now.

She decides to make the next move, exactly as planned, "Poison Gas!"

I can tell that her strategy is to poison me and then use Venoshock since it's power would be double. This does put me at a little bit of a disadvantage since I don't have an immediate way to counter it or block it, so for now…

"Take Down!"

The best I can hope for is the poison slides right off if Iego is going fast enough, if not...I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Thankfully the poison slides right off and my attack hits, KO'ing it.

Roxie looks down at her Grimer, "An impressive hit, not just anybody can pull that off."

I withdraw Iego, "Thanks."

"But my Koffing'll knock the sense outta ya!" She yells, sending out Koffing.

I shrug and send out Watt Jr.

She tries the same stunt, "Smog!"

The cloud floats over to Watt Jr. who looks like he's about to laugh, "Blizzard."

The icy storm freezes the gas in a matter of seconds rendering it ineffective while freezing over the holes on Koffing, preventing it from trying that again.

"Water Pulse," I say and in a second, Koffing is gone as well.

Roxie growls, "Fine, but Whirlipede's my ace, almost no one's actually beat it."

I switch out again for Iego, "Try me," I say.

She tries the same thing, again, "Poison Sting!"

I decide to let it hit Iego, after all, we practiced this. Roxie looks satisfied that she finally landed a hit and was no doubt about to yell Venoshock when I flicked my wrist.

Iego understood. He flew at Whirlipede and used Reversal. Iego and I practiced this against many a wild Pokémon yesterday and I found out that there's a sweet spot to Reversal. If you have your Pokémon jump three seconds in and flip the opponent, it boosts the power by tenfold.

"Whirlipede is unable to battle!" The judge yells, "The challenger, Nate, is the victor!"

The audience applauded the battle.

"I haven't lost in almost a year," Roxie says, surprised, "You deserve this."

She hands me the Toxic Badge, which I pin with my Basic Badge.

"You gonna stick around for the performance?" Roxie asks.

I pull out my ticket, she nods and I take my seat.

It took another couple hours before the show was about to start.

Nancy walked out on stage and the audience erupted into applause. She did multiple waves and a few poses.

"Thank you," she says into the microphone, "This experience has been amazing. I hope you guys enjoy _Entrenched _when it's available. In terms of a first album, this one was smooth and amazing one."

She stepped back and yelled, "For the finale, this one's called 'Entrenched'."

The intro started out poppy but then picked up heavily on guitar and distorted rock instruments.

"The gas is flying through the air," Nancy sang, "Another head drops, another one that they carry back."

This song went on for six minutes with multiple pace changes throughout and by the end, I was impressed. The song was a great combination of two completely clashing styles.

At the end of the whole performance Roxie says, "For the first time in 11 months. I was beaten."

The audience was genuinely surprised, I mean, it's not everyday that a gym leader loses.

"So could the victor Nate Kyohei please come center stage?"

I wanted to act surprised, but it was pretty predictable so I just walked up on the stage.

"Got anything to say to the audience?" Nancy asked.

I didn't say anything, but I had Watt Jr. and Iego use move that created crystalline ice structures.

"If you want an ice sculpture, ask me," I say, walking off stage.

The next day I got a knock on the door. It was a pudgy man wearing purple.

"Hahlo!" The man said, his accent thick, "Could you come with me?"

I obliged and followed him to a bustling studio.

He led me into a building that had a clerk and multiple guards.

"Hello Mr. Stu Deeoh!" One clerk says.

"Hahlo! Hahlo!" He greeted everyone.

I just stood off to the side looking conspicuous while trying to look inconspicuous.

Then Mr. Deeoh walked up to me, "Welcome to PokeStar Studios dahling."

"We want you as an actor," another person said.

"Ok," I say, a little confused.

"We have multiple scripts and are prepared for filming…"

He kept droning on, but I noticed a Riolu in the corner.

"Who's this?" I ask.

"Oh, we found him passed out on the street a few days ago."

I look him in the eyes, "Can I have him?"

The guy looks confused, but Mr. Deeoh jumps in, "Of course, dahling."

I pick up the Riolu, "Hey Rio," I say coming up with it on the spot, "You doing okay? Well, I'm going to put you in a Poke Ball for now. Okay?"

He nods and I put him in a Poke Ball.

I go back over and had them explain to me, in detail, what I had been selected for and what I was going to be doing. From what I got, they wanted me as an actor and they wanted to start filming right away.

I looked at the date, September 7. It had been a month since I started my journey…

"I've got time," I say.

Team Nate:

Name: Watt Jr. | Species: Dewott | Level: 33 | Nature: Brave | Moveset: Focus Energy, Razor Shell, Water Pulse, Blizzard

Name: Iego | Species: Growlithe | Level: 27 | Nature: Hardy | Moveset: Flame Charge, Fire Fang, Take Down, Reversal

Name: Rio | Species: Riolu | Level: 20 | Nature: Mild | Moveset: Quick Attack, Endure, Copycat, Force Palm


	4. Chapter 4

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

Nate POV

I can't believe how long it's been. I'm turning 13 in a few days. Not only have I grown in mind, but having to do stunts for my first movie _Brycen-Man _has made my physique honed. Just a typical superhero movie. It's only been out for a couple weeks, but the studio has rolled in 500 billion Poke dollars.

"Smashing, dahling! Simply smashing!" Mr. Deeoh would say on a regular basis.

In fact, I'm supposed to be a guest star at this year's comic-con in Castelia. I'm supposed to be in the full costume of Riolu Kid with my Riolu with me. There's going to be a lot of autographs going around and I'm supposed to be announcing my next movie in the superhero series, _The Sneasel Ninja_.

"There we'll show the first sneak peak of the trailer and then we'll show off some of the props from Riolu Kid," one of the assistants told me as the day drew nearer.

Meanwhile, in my spare time, I did some training. Mostly working on training Iego and Rio, both of which are now level 30, but I didn't have that much free time as an actor. I'm not complaining, after all, the work makes bank and is pretty fun.

One thing that I did in secret, mostly at night, was monitor the attacks of Neo Team Plasma. They were getting more and more frequent. Pokémon being stolen, Pokémon just disappearing, and various other things. For most people it was hard to trace the act to the culprit, but I'm not just anyone. I had hacked my way into the security cameras all around and had an easy way to monitor should a problem occur. Of course, I've been so busy that the best I can do is send the police after them…

Yancy POV

I often can't remember the month before I decided to try and get a record deal…

At least it went well! I'm probably the most influential artist of this generation! I released my first album late September and have gone on tour with it for six months, so now I just spend my days with my songwriter trying to come up with lyrics for my next album. I do get a week off though, so I decided to go to comic-con (I'm a geek at heart…) as myself, my normal self at least, Yancy. Apparently the actor for Riolu Kid is going to be there...who I may or may not...have a crush on…

Nate POV

Now that comic-con's a week away, I finally have time for myself. I can go on walks, train, whatever I want. Mr. Deeoh says that it would be bad to overwork me right before such an important event. Bad for morale, he said.

Meanwhile, I just train in the Virbank Complex. I wish I had an area with more powerful Pokémon to train against, but it's what's in the area, so I make do.

"Riolu, Quick Attack!"

Rio dashed towards the Elekid, outspeeding it's Quick Attack and KO'ing it.

"I swear these battles are getting too easy," I say.

Rio nods, despite the blue aura surrounding him.

"Lucario already?" I say, returning Rio to its Poke Ball.

I decide that I'll call it quits for the day and head back to the studio.

"You decided that we're auctioning it off?" I say, confused, "That cost literally 100 million Poke Dollars."

"Well," the production assistant says, "It wasn't my decision, but we figured we could make a lot more money selling it in an auction."

"Ok," I say, "Are we advertising that we're auctioning it?"

"Nope."

I try to think about how this makes sense, "Oh, ok…"

Pokémon Comic-Con, May 18

Yancy POV

It's amazing! There are vendors everywhere advertising different franchises, different products, all sorts of things that make a geek satisfied. There were also all sorts of rumors circulating around.

"I heard that they're auctioning off a rare stone that was in the background in _Brycen-Man_, some people are saying it could be a Mega Stone!" I hear one person say.

"Yeah, I heard the starting price is only a million Poke Dollars!" The other said.

This piqued my interest making me even more anxious for the PokeStar Studio Expo at 1:00.

Hugh POV

Comic-con! I had always wanted to go as a kid, but my family was never really well off. Now as a trainer, I had lots of money to lose. I had even emptied out my savings because I heard that they're selling a Mega Stone! I'm definitely not letting anyone else get their hands on that! All I had to do is hope that no rich fucks showed up with their piles of money.

Kain POV

I'm not usually one to listen to hearsay and rumors, but this one definitely had my attention. A Mega Stone! Starting at one million Poke Dollars! That is hella cheap! The doors are about to open and I think that auction is all anyone in the room is thinking about.

Nate POV

I wandered around Comic-Con taking selfies with people, signing whatever was thrust at me (there were some weird things…) and contradicting arguing fans about what was canon. I could tell word had leaked out about auctioning off the Mega Stone based on other people's conversations. Oh well, at least it'll make the bidding more interesting. It's about 15 minutes out before I have to go to the stage and start preparing, another 15 before the presentation and auction starts. I decide it's better early than late and start walking over to the door.

"I brought 50 million Poke Dollars!" One man boasted.

I laugh as I walk by him, he's just asking to get robbed. That or someone is going to run to an ATM and pick up more money because you have to have the money present at this auction. No check or credit. Cash only.

"Ah! The man of the hour!" Mr. Deeoh says as I walk in the room, "We have everything prepared, so we're planning on starting early."

"Better notify the public," I say, realizing that there will be a lot of complaints if some rich fart loses out on his chance to get his hands on another shiny object.

He nods, "Yes, dahling, of course."

Approximately 10,000 people were seated in the rows and another 5,000 standing in the aisles. I have to admit, I'm not surprised so many people wanted a chance to even see such a rare item.

"Please welcome to the stage, Blake Lack-Two, Riolu-Kid!"

I walk out on stage with the same cool swagger that Riolu-Kid has in the movie, "I see quite the crowd showed up today."

Lots of cheering from the audience.

"Thank you," I say, "For the first announcement, a new film will be coming out in a year-please hold the applause-and the teaser trailer is being dropped right now. So on behalf of PokeStar Studios, enjoy."

I step back and let the trailer play.

"Sometimes the law doesn't know how to deal with things," The Sneasel Ninja says, "They say they do, but sometimes we have to take matters into our own hands."

Alarms start blaring in the trailer, "Change needs to come about."

The alarms stop, "For now? I am that change."

The logo for Sneasel Ninja flashes on the screen along with the release date and the screen goes dark again.

"I know," I say through all the cheering, "I have managed to land another lead role in another PokeStar Studios film. I'm as excited as you all. For our second announcement, we at PokeStar Studios are making special limited edition Sneasel Ninja POP!s and Nenderoids to commemorate its teaser trailer. For further details check our website, the standard procedure. Now, third and finally, the moment that I'm sure all of you are here for, we are auctioning off a Gardevoirite that was in the background during the carnival scene in _Brycen-Man_. Starting bid is one million Poke Dollars!"

Instantly three people sitting all together shoot up, "ONE HUNDRED MILLION!"

I wait for someone to raise the bid, maybe even one of the three, "Are you bidding together?"

"No!" They all shout.

This is when I realize that one of the bidders is Kain and another Hugh. Great, next thing you know they'll want to battle me.

I look over to Mr. Deeoh.

He hops on stage, "All three bidders will battle the Riolu-Kid! Victor claims the spoils! If multiple win then we will purchase another for them!"

Well, looks like they don't even have to ask to battle, "Three-on-three single battle."

They all walk up onto the stage.

"Your names, please?" I ask.

"Kain Verness," the red-haired boy says.

"Hugh Hyu," the blue-haired boy says.

"Yancy Ruri," the pink-haired girl says.

"If it's not too much trouble," I say, "Could you reveal your Pokémon now?"

They all nod, sending out their teams. Kain hasn't changed his team, but he evolved his Pokémon, he chose Flaaffy, Pignite, and Lucario. For Hugh, his team had two new additions Tranquill and Simisear in addition to his evolved Snivy which is now a Servine. Yancy's team was a little bit of an oddball, Kirlia, Togetic, and Teddiursa. Pretty different from the rest of the competitors.

"So," I say, "Who's going first?"

All of them look a little uncomfortable. Actors are usually boisterous people who over exaggerate their Pokémon's power, but they must've felt that I would make good on the promise of being powerful.

Finally, Kain stepped forward. I was expecting it, he's usually the most cocky person in the room.

"Growlithe," I say, tossing my Great Ball, purposely not saying it's nickname so as not to reveal myself.

"Flaaffy," Kain says. He's really calmed down from the last time I battled him.

I decide to differ from my normal strategy and attack first, "Flame Charge."

I do this to judge his reaction, "Thunder!"

This was a risky and dumb move that only Kain would try. Iego is going at a high enough speed that the electricity misses him and he rams into Flaaffy.

"Jump back…now!" I yell to Iego.

He jumps back just in time and Flaaffy's Static abilities fails to affect him.

The audience gasps and applauds, "Flame Burst!"

The attack hits its mark and KOs the already injured Flaaffy.

"Pignite!" Kain yells.

"So you want to fight fire with fire, huh?" I say, smirking.

"Flame Charge!" He says.

"Do the same," I say to Iego.

Pignite charges towards Iego and Iego does the same. I flick my wrist up and Iego jumps just before the attack lands.

"Take Down," I say.

Iego follows the command and strikes the Pignite in the back…and KOs it.

Kain growls, "At this rate, I don't even stand a chance."

He sends out his final Pokémon, Lucario.

"Let's finish this quickly," I say, "Fire Blast!"

"Aura Sphere!"

The attacks collide with each other causing an explosion. The audience gasps, expecting something to be destroyed, but nothing does.

As the explosion rages on, I yell, "One more time!"

Kain's reaction time isn't good enough and the Fire Blast shoots through the explosion landing a direct hit on Lucario.

"Zee Lucario is unable to battle!" Mr. Deeoh yells, acting as the judge, "Riolu-Kid is the victor!"

The audience was appalled, "Did you see how fast he was? He only used one Pokémon and won!"

I crack my neck and turn to face the other two, "Still wanna try?"

Hugh steps forward, as I expect, "I'm risking a hundred million bucks on this, I'm not going to back down. Go, Tranquill!"

"All right," I say, "I respect your grit. Lucario, it's time."

Rio nods and steps forward. I don't attack right away this time since Hugh watched my other battle, he probably has a strategy and I need to see what it is before I go on the offense.

Then I see a glint from Tranquill, and I chuckle.

"You want to see my moveset," I say, "Tranquill's using Detect, isn't it?"

Hugh stopped the smile on his face and shook his head, "I thought I got you."

"Swords Dance!" I yell to Rio, who promptly boosts his Attack, "Now Power-Up Punch!"

Rio's punches were moving at such blinding speeds that he looked like Star Platinum from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. By the time Detect had worn off, one punch was enough to KO the Tranquill.

The audience gawked, "In one blow!"

Hugh returned Tranquill, "I'll admit, you're a hell of a lot more powerful than I thought you were."

I shrug, "I guess I should've told you not to underestimate me."

Hugh chuckles, "This is actually pretty fun, probably the biggest challenge I've had in awhile."

Next, he sends out Simisear, "It does kind of suck that now I have to go completely on the defensive since you're Attack is boosted so much."

I can tell that this is a big problem right away as Simisear can't learn a lot of non-contact moves, only one, actually. He must be throwing his weakest in right now to send in his strongest, even though this one has type advantage.

"Flame Burst!" Hugh shouts, at least he's trying.

"Knock it back," I say to Rio.

He winds up a punch and thrusts the Flame Burst back at the Simisear. Naturally, the attack doesn't do much damage, but blinds him for just long enough that Rio can land a hit on him. Two down, one to go.

"I think you know that I was saving my ace," Hugh says, "Go, Cor!"

The Servine lands on the stage, "Vine."

"Leech Seed!" Hugh shouts.

I see his strategy, keep me busy long enough with the Leech Seed that he can land a hit on me.

"Use Bone Rush to mow them down!" I yell.

Rio pulls out two bone shaped energy blades and cuts through all the vines.

"Quick! While he's distracted! Leaf Blade!"

Rio turns and deflects it, but gets trapped by one of the vines of Leech Seed.

"Now you're trapped!" Hugh says, laughing.

I have a nasty grin on my face, he thinks he's won.

"Rio pull a vine up and lasso the Servine!" I yell to my Lucario.

In a flurry of movements, my Lucario has Servine under the reins.

"Now, pull him in and Power-Up Punch!"

Rio obliges, pulling the Servine towards him before slamming him back with a well-placed Power-Up Punch.

"The Servine is unable to battle!" Mr, Deeoh says with glee, "Riolu-Kid wins again!"

I stretch a little bit, "You're also still battling?"

She nods, "Besides, even if I lose, I have a once in a lifetime opportunity to battle Riolu-Kid."

I smile, "It's nice to know that some people still have guts."

She pulls out her first Poke Ball, "Star, let's do this!"

"Come on Dewott," I say, throwing the Poke Ball, "Razor Shell!"

"Slash!" She yells to her Teddiursa.

I can tell that she doesn't have much battle experience, but her Pokémon are higher levels than the other two. More than likely on the brink of evolution.

Watt Jr's Razor Shell overpowers the Teddiursa's Slash and throws it backwards. It just shakes it's head and gets up.

"You're asking for more," I say, "Well, here it comes."

I decide that I'm going full force, "Blizzard!"

The Blizzard blasts the Teddiursa backwards who apparently didn't have a counter.

"Return, Star," Yancy says, "Tokei!"

Out comes the Togetic and at this point I'm getting a little tired of battling, so I bring out my best strategy.

"Razor Shell, then Blizzard!"

The combination makes the Razor Shell an ice sword and Watt Jr. speeds towards the Togetic and attacks it repeatedly, KO'ing it within seconds.

"Ok…" Yancy says, sounding surprised, "Aurora, it's time!"

She sends out her Kirlia who immediately uses Teleport.

I look at its erratic pattern of teleportation trying to judge its next location.

As it Teleports a blue light shines around it…it's evolving!

When the blue light fades, Yancy yells, "Psychic!"

The Gardevoir picks Watt Jr. up and slams it towards the ground. Luckily for me, that's what I was expecting.

"Stick a Razor Shell in the ground and swing off of it!" I yell.

Watt Jr. nods as it heads towards the ground. The second it's close enough to the stage it plunges the tip in and swings off towards the Gardevoir.

"Don't hold back!" I yell, knowing that if I let up Gardevoir could use Psychic again.

Watt Jr. uses Water Pulse, then Blizzard, and then swings his Razor Shell downward throwing the Gardevoir back down to the stage.

"The Gardevoir is unable to battle!" Mr. Deeoh shouts, "Riolu-Kid wins!"

Neo Team Plasma Grunt POV

I sit near a window at the convention in Castelia. Then the boss calls me.

"Status report on the target?" He asks.

I gulp, "His power and skill exceed what we originally estimated. I don't think this is a good ide-"

"I call the shots!" He yells, "We have most of the grunts surrounding the place, give them the signal to move in."

"Yes sir!" I say, and give the order.

Nate POV

I healed all three of the competitors Pokémon and then went backstage and became Nate Kyohei again. Then, I walked out a side exit and stood by the side wall of the room. Mr. Deeoh is explaining that the stone will go back to PokeStar Studios for now and will more than likely be auctioned off next ye-

The sound of a knife sinking into human skin.

Team Kain:

Name: Flaaffy | Species: Flaaffy | Level: 29 | Nature: Naive | Moveset: Thunder, Thunderbolt, Electro Ball, Confuse Ray

Name: Pignite | Species: Pignite | Level: 29 | Nature: Lax | Moveset: Flame Charge, Take Down, Arm Thrust, Defense Curl

Name: Lucario | Species: Lucario | Level: 29 | Nature: Hasty | Moveset: Aura Sphere, Power-Up Punch, Metal Claw, Bone Rush

Name: Leavanny | Species: Leavanny | Level: 29 | Nature: Timid | Moveset: Razor Leaf, Slash, Bug Bite, Helping Hand

Name: Psyduck | Species: Psyduck | Level: 29 | Nature: Mild | Moveset: Confusion, Zen Headbutt, Disable, Aqua Tail

Name: Tranquill | Species: Tranquill | Level: 29 | Nature: Rash | Moveset: Detect, Air Cutter, Roost, Quick Attack


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys. I'm really sorry about the hu****ge hiatus, and I doubt the people reading this even know what it is. With school, familial problems, and lots of other things, I haven't really had time to continue this. However, because of the recent virus, school has been cancelled, giving me more time to work on this. **

**A/N 2: Sorry about the previous update on the 16th, the app works a lot differently than the site and it messed me up a little **

? POV

I look down to see how their getting along.

"Oh, shit," I say, they're surrounded by Team Plasma Grunts

Zand-sorry-Nate is stabbed in the gut a lot of blood spilling out, "Why does he always get into trouble? I don't remember being that troublesome…"

You also weren't that powerful, I think to myself.

I look at my last resort: Burst Hearts. Of course, those are only if he's about to die. Since he hasn't undergone the rigorous training it might kill him instead of helping, so I don't want to be responsible for killing him.

"That and you'll have a lot of work down the road," I say to myself, "Erasing the memories and all. I set this up so specific things have to happen. All the other universes end up in turmoil or destruction, this battle would decide the fate of this universe."

I shake my head and stop time, assessing everything. You destroyed a universe, caused turmoil in thousands of others and now it could all be for naught. You'd think that an all-powerful being would be able to see this coming, but the future is unpredictable at best.

I could let Yancy use the Gardevoirite...if she has a Keystone to defeat them. She could probably get through 20-30 of the 50 Grunts…they probably would be overrun by reinforcements though, causing them to die.

If Nate manages to recover from his wound and they all fight their way out, without my intervention, they have a 32% chance of success...too low.

There's the Burst Hearts…as a last resort…

Nate could try taking them on single-handedly...41% chance of more-or-less success, a lot of fatal injuries that could be...well, fatal.

You must be thinking why I can't directly interfere with the problem. The simple answer is that that would screw everything up. Now then, where was I…

There's a 1% chance that they surrender and give up the Gardevoirite, but then Neo Team Plasma will try and take their Pokémon which won't result well for either side.

Frustrated, I send a blast of energy into the open space. Of course, it just continues on forever. This makes me realize something. Deeoh never does anything. He just stands there in every single part...is he a traitor? I decide to risk going forward into time.

"Hahahaha!" He says, "So you've made it to the entrance of the Giant Chasm! Unfortunately, it is here that you must die."

"What do you mean Mr. Deeoh!?" Nate says, holding Yancy back with an arm.

"Ughh," Deeoh says, "I hate that false name I made for myself Stu Deeoh? Come on! I am Mazta Gorr! And I will not let you get to Lord Ghetsis! Dragonite! Hyper Beam!"

"Jaws! The same!"

I decide to monitor this battle for a little while longer, it might give me insight.

The beams clash with each other causing a large explosion that almost caves the entrance in.

"Tsk," Gorr says, "I've been monitoring you for a couple years now, I know all of your petty strategies and everything about your Pokémon. I have a team full of Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon! You can't expect to beat them!"

"I don't expect," Nate growls, "I will!"

I stop it here and go back to the present frozen time, "So he is a traitor. Well, I can't do much about that. And Nate is powerful enough to deal with it on his own."

I try thinking of what else could happen in this time…it's basically just a catch-22 situation. Even if they win, there'll be complications later on and if they lose now it's all over.

I look down at Yancy. Hard to believe this started only a couple years ago in an alternate universe from mine. I sigh. Love has taken her this far and she doesn't even remember what happened in the two alternate universes she's been in. If Nate survives and picks up that Xtransceiver, she'll remember everything. That's out of my control.

There are some things you can't control even when you're every single legendary Pokémon combined.

Team Hugh:

Name: Cor | Species: Servine | Level: 31 | Nature: Bold | Moveset: Leech Seed, Mega Drain, Leaf Blade, Slam

Name: Simus | Species: Simisear | Level: 29 | Nature: Naughty | Moveset: Fury Swipes, Flame Burst, Lick, Leer

Name: Winn | Species: Tranquill | Level: 29 | Nature: Impish | Moveset: Detect, Roost, Air Cutter, Taunt


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey! I hope everyone is doing fine with the virus going around. This chapter should hopefully give you a few minutes or more of entertainment during the long hours of quarantine. Anyways, I was wondering if you guys (the readers) wanted me to start doing a weekly schedule or something of the like?**

Nate POV

Immediately, everyone ran out screaming. I knew something was wrong right as he withdrew the knife. More blood was coming out than should've. I felt impossibly woozy and dizzy like I had been spinning around for so long that I felt nauseous. I'm already on the ground and I feel like passing out. I look up at the stage, the three challengers are being corralled back to prevent them from helping me. Of course, they had their Pokémon out and were trying to fight against it. I send out Watt Jr. and, half-coherently, tell him to just fend off the attackers.

As he does so a blue light erupts out of him. The blue light changes shape until a scimitar is thrust out at an opposing Pokémon. No, this is Samurott, so that was a seamitar. Then, he just glares at all of the opponents and they freeze and tense up, not meeting his eyes, as if they're scared of his gaze.

I try getting up, but my efforts are fruitless. I've lost too much blood. I'll be lucky if I even survive this. I close my eyes and pass out...until something sharp hits my head jolting me up.

It's a hexagonal stone.

I try lifting it up more to see what it is when it starts vibrating.

"B-Boss!" One Grunt says, backing away, "What's that stone thing he has."

A man robed in purple breaks through the crowd of Grunts and stares at it, "I feel like I've seen it somewhere before…"

As he speaks to his Grunts, the vibrating gets stronger and stronger, until it takes all my strength to hold it.

"We'd best be safe and take it-" His eyes go wide with shock, "GRAB IT! TAKE IT AWAY!"

As the Grunts run towards me, a blast of light bursts from the stone, dragging Watt Jr. in. I try to scream, to make a sound to stop what's happening, but to no avail. During the blast of light, I see a gauntlet on my hand...I wasn't wearing one before…and it has a hole the exact size and shape of the stone I'm holding. I decide, fuck it, I'll try my luck.

I fit the stone into the hole…

An extreme pain crashes over me as well as a beam of water surrounding me.

Just as I feel like I'm about to collapse and die from the pain, it all goes away.

"Z-Z-Zinzolin…" a Grunt says, stammering with fear, "W-w-What the hell is that!?"

I realize that they're all staring at me. Even the ones that were fighting Yancy, Kain, and Hugh are looking at me. Same with the three mentioned before.

"I-it's a Burst Warrior…" Zinzolin says, "I...he…"

I look down at my body and realize that I'm not cut anymore...and I have Samurott armor all over my body as well as the claws.

I unsheathe a seamitar, "Well this is interesting."

"W-what do we do!?" A Grunt yells.

Zinzolin picks up a gun from one of the knocked out guards and shoots it at me.

I slash the seamitar at where he was aiming. _Shink. _The bullet's halves clatter to the ground beside me.

I open my mouth and release a guttural cry. All of the Pokémon and even the Grunts, around me back away.

So I not only have the appearance of Samurott, but also the abilities of one. That would mean…

I level the seamitar at a Galvantula one of the Grunts has. An extremely high power jet of water slams into it. KO.

I chuckle, "So, how do you like your odds?"

Hugh POV

Burst Warrior...I've heard that term before. Hadn't Nate mentioned that a long time ago…

**Flashback**

"Hey, Hugh," Nate said, when I opened the door for him. He was 7-8 at the time.

"Hey," I said.

He looks giddy, "I found this book about this weird region with special stones and these fittings and…"

He droned on about this for a while.

"You know the area behind Mr. Alder's house?" He said, breaking me out my space out.

"Yeah, what about it," I said, waiting for him to get to his point. He always had a point.

"Have you ever been there?" He said, smirking.

"Why?" I asked, whispering, so that my parents wouldn't overhear.

"There's a rumor that legendary Pokémon go back there occasionally and that they have a connection to this weird region," he said, smiling.

"You want to investigate?" I asked. He nods.

I contemplated the disadvantages of this, "But we don't have Pokémon! What if they attack us?"

He looked at me, a little mockingly.

"Hey mom!" I shouted, "Can we go to Floccesy?"

"Sure!" My mom yelled back.

We eventually got to Floccesy and the second my mom left we went to the area where Mr. Alder's house was.

"Let's go!" Nate said, he was always and adventurous kid.

We slowly walked behind Mr. Alder's house through the clearing of trees he had.

When we got there, I heard the faint noise of Pokémon cries.

"Burst Warrior?" Nate said.

What's a Burst Warrior?" I said a little too loudly.

The faint whispering stopped and three huge legendary Pokémon were looming over us.

**End Flashback**

I…don't remember what happened after that. I think the legendaries just ran away, but that doesn't seem like something legendaries do. But that term...Burst Warrior…is that what's happening right now? And how come Nate just said it out of the blue? And why am I only thinking about how weird that was now? I look over at Kain and Yancy, they're frozen in fear. I look over at Nate and realize why. He's glaring down all of the Team Plasma Pokémon. I really want to go down there and help him fight, because Team Plasma stole my little sister's Purrloin when she was only five, but that glare...I can't shake it. It seems like it stares down into the depths of your soul, judging you and deciding whether you get a ticket to heaven or thrown into hell. It was as if he had actually gained the ability of Samurott where his stare silences anyone.

Then, he levels a seamitar. _BANG!_ A gunshot. I hold my breath, Kain's eyes go wide with shock, Yancy screams.

A clattering, I exhale. He cut the bullet in half and lets loose a guttural cry. To think I find his glare scary. The Pokémon around him all back up out of fear and it takes everything I have not to run away. Some of the Grunts do. He levels his seamitar again, pointing at a Galvantula...a huge hush of high-pressure water slams into the Galvantula, instantly KO'ing it.

Nate chuckles, "So, how do you like your odds?"

Zinzolin growls, "Retreat!"

They instantly run out of the room through every nook and cranny exit.

A minute passes, "You okay Nate?"

Burst Warrior Nate turns around to face me...and the world goes black

? POV

I breathe a sigh of relief, "They all survived…and now I have to erase even those Grunts memories...I can't let anyone remember him Bursting if even he doesn't remember it, that would put him at a huge risk."

I pause. Could I do anything about Mazta Gorr? Best to leave him alone and only mess with memories of that situation.

"I am going to get Nate to quit from PokeStar Studios though. Just to play it safe."

I set to work erasing memories, speeding up time where I am, but slowing it down in their world. If I didn't do this, reconstructing the complex convoy of the human brain would take a year minimum.

As I work a thought hits me. I have the powers of Arceus, the God. So couldn't I create a Pokémon that was on my team and then imbue them with the memories of my team before I destroyed our universe…

Team Yancy:

Name: Star | Species: Ursaring | Level: 32 | Nature: Quiet | Moveset: Hammer Arm, Slash, Sweet Scent, Fake Tears

Name:Tokei | Species: Togetic | Level: 35| Nature: Timid | Moveset: Metronome, Encore, Yawn, Wish.

Name: Aurora | Species: Gardevoir | Level: 33 | Nature: Calm | Moveset: Psychic, Teleport, Moonblast, Wish

Name: Amanda | Species: Spinda | Level: 50 | Nature: Gentle | Moveset: Copycat, Hypnosis, Dizzy Punch, Teeter Dance


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys! I decided that I'll post a new chapter every five days. On another note, after I've finished Formidable, I'm doing a story called Aftermath which I am taking OC submissions for! The instructions are on the first chapter of the story and don't worry, at the end of every chapter, I will write which OC was created by who. Anyways, enjoy!**

Nate POV

I quit PokeStar Studios. I don't remember what happened, but I didn't have a choice. It was just one of those things that you know you need to do. Now that I have free time, I think I'm finally ready to take on Burgh. I did a lot of training since I quit a week ago and Watt Jr. is Level 40, Rio is Level 38, and Iego is the same. Some people say I overtrain and that I could take on the fifth or sixth gym leader with my team. I just shrug and walk away. Sometimes, when I'm alone, I get this nagging feeling like there's something I've forgotten, but I can't remember for the life of me. I can't remember what happened at Comic-con or what happened after, I just quit…to continue my journey, I think my reason was.

Hugh often asks me the same thing over the Xtransceiver, "Do you remember what happened? I swear, it's like someone erased my memories or something."

I always replied the same way, "No, but I feel the same…"

I did find it extremely eerie, especially considering my family's track record with Psychic Pokémon. And the thing is, no one else knew either. It was a forgotten day in history. Hell, even the cameras showed no evidence of anything happening at all.

I didn't want to think about it.

I don't want to think about it.

Yet, here I am, thinking about it.

"Dammit!" I yell to the open air.

I shake my head and look down.

"Is...everything alright?" I hear a girl's voice say.

I look to my right and a girl that looks about my age is looking confusedly at me.

"Uh, yeah…" I respond, just realizing that this girl has been here for a few minutes now

"Ooooook…" she says, "Um, I'm Mya."

"Nate," I respond, just wanting the conversation to be over.

"Are you looking to challenge Burgh?" She continues on.

"SHUT UP!" I scream in my head.

"Yeah."

"Oh, cool. I am too," she's still talking, "Hard to believe that the league tournament is still about a couple years out."

"Yeah, crazy," I murmur to myself, still wishing this conversation will stop.

"Hey! What if we had a battle! Y'know, like, a warm up for Burgh!"

This piqued my interest, "Ok."

"Alright!" She pumps her fist, "is right now ok?"

I raise a finger, "You do realize I'm a bit of a trainer phenom?"

She scoffs, "I'm ready!"

I sigh, "Alright."

I throw a Poke Ball at a nearby wall and catch it with my other hand, just for show of course.

She laughs, "Are you trying to intimidate me?"

I don't respond and instead send out Iego.

She bursts out into more laughter, "Not letting your opponent choose first? That's just a bad strategy."

She sends out a Krokorok, "And on the contrary, I Intimidate you!"

I huff out a little bit of air through my nose. That throws a small wrench into my plan, but it's still no problem.

"Kokiri, Use Earthquake!"

As the earth rumbles, I yell to Iego, "Fire Blast! As hot as possible!"

This is…a really bad idea…

The whole sand field explodes into a molten liquid that forces both of our Pokémon to leap backwards and escape the heat.

Then, just like that, the molten sand cools and forms a very distorted glass battlefield.

Mya looks at me with shock...and returns her Krokorok.

"That was an insanely powerful Fire-Type attack," she says, mouth agape, "How'd you do that?"

"You don't want to continue the battle?" I ask.

"Hell no," she states blatantly, "I'm not stupid enough to send my Pokémon out onto a field of glass.

She pauses, "Well if you won't tell me your secret, I'll take my leave."

She makes a kissing motion in a flirty way, then giggles and runs away.

I sigh and turn to Iego, "Nice job! That was the exact goal!"

He barks and wags his tail with somewhat of a smile on his face as if to say, "Yeah, I know."

"Alright now where the hell is the gym…"

Yancy POV

I haven't been in for recording in a few days. The pounding headaches and migraines just keep coming along with random flashes of whatever the fuck they were. People, places, Pokémon, I haven't remembered much of them...except for one… A boy that looks to be about 15 is standing in front of... something… some creature

"To believe that this backfired," he looks directly at me.

"Oh, but you shouldn't be here yet…"

? POV

"FUCK!" I scream, "OUT OF THE BILLION FUCKING TIMES THAT I EDIT THE NEUROLOGICAL STRUCTURE, NOW IT MESSES UP!"

I slam my fists down on the ground with a shake that caves in part of Clay Tunnel.

"It's ok...it's ooook," I say, trying to calm myself down.

"Yeah of course it's ok," my second voice says, "You only made her gravely ill and quite possibly ruined this whole timeline. Great job!"

I sigh and continue watching things pan out…

Yancy POV

How the hell? I don't remember it now...it was so vivid just a second ago…

I hear a knock at the door, "Miss Nancy?"

I sigh, "Gaster, I said I'm calling in sick today."

"That's not why I'm here," he responds, "I'm your chauffeur, not your employer. A young bloke is here to see you."

I roll my eyes, "Gaster, what part of 'I'm sick' is not understood? I don't want to see fans today, especially male ones."

"That's just it Miss Yancy," he replies, "He's not a fan."

"So…" I start, bundled up in my coat, "Why are you here again?"

The blue haired boy shifted uncomfortably, "I...I went to comic-con last Friday."

I roll my eyes yet again, "So what? What does this have to do with me?"

He taps his fingers, "I don't remember anything! And I figured, since you're a celebrity, you might have been there…"

My heart jumped, "You...don't remember anything?"

"Nada," He replies sharply.

I start pacing. In reality, I didn't remember anything from the moment I stepped in to the time I woke up the next morning.

"Do...do you know anyone else that...that was there?" I say, also drumming my fingers.

He inhales sharply, "I was going to call my friend and ask him to come over if it was ok with you…"

I contemplate it for a little bit, "Sure…"

Nate POV

"Burgh isn't here right now," Clyde says.

"You've gotta be shitting me," I murmur.

As I turn around, something catches my eye, an electric blue flash...running towards the sewers. It has to be.

I bolt in the direction, "Hey! Wait! Burgh shouldn't be long!" the assistant calls out.

I arrive at the entrance to see a shadow dart in the blackness.

I pull out my Xtransceiver to call Hugh when he calls me, "Hey, Hugh, I hope you're free because I just found a lead."

"Oh, well, actually I was calling about-"

"I'm at the Castelia Sewers," I say quickly, "Meet me at the entrance ASAP."

I hang up, "God he better get here soon."

Yancy POV

"He hung up already, well looks like I'm meeting him," Hugh says, "Are you coming or not?"

I pause, this Nate person sounds familiar, "I'll...meet you there…"

"Got it," he replies and rushes out.

As he rushes out, I rush to my closet, "Good thing my migraines miraculously went away."

I dress myself up normally, as Yancy. Even though it might give my identity away to one person, it's better than the public or media...or both. Another miracle is that I'm in Castelia City currently. For some reason, I really wanted my house in Icirrus City, but I settled on Castelia because it's warmer and surprisingly not smog-ridden. That doesn't matter though, I'm heading to the sewers for...what lead did Nate find?

Nate POV

"I'm here!" I hear Hugh shout.

"Perfect, let's g-"

"Wait!"

"...What? Why?" I ask.

"I picked someone else up, they should be here any minute!"

I sigh and roll my eyes, "You're the one that wanted to figure out about Neo Team Plasma and you're telling me to wait?"

"I hope I'm not late!" A female voice shouts.

"Yeah," Hugh says, "this is-"

He promptly gets kneed in the shin, "What the hell?!"

She shakes her head as if to say to Hugh, 'stop', "I'm Yancy."

I shake my head; I can't believe that he would blow his own odds by adding a variable, a liability, "Alright, the more the merrier."

I start to descend through the sewer entrance when I hear Yancy ask, "What's his problem?"

Hugh follows after me, "The kid's got a lot on his mind, and he blames himself for almost all the shit that goes on in people's lives."

There's a slight pause, "Ah, but I really shouldn't have said that."

"No kidding," I murmur, "Plus you just took a shot in the dark you have no idea if that's even true."

He shrugs, "You got me there."

By now we're at the bottom and on the sewer floor, "Hope you both were prepared for this."

I turn around and they nod. As I turn back, I notice that they both have boots on. Of course I'm the one that's least prepared.

I pull out a Poké Ball, "Rio tell me how many human auras you sense close by."

"Ca-ri," he responds with a nod.

A second passes and a quiet, high-pitched sound like static or feedback echoes through the tunnel.

Rio turns back to me and holds up four fingers, "And can you tell how many are Team Plasma."

He nods and holds up two fingers.

"So, we're not alone…" Yancy says, in a hushed tone.

"It would appear that way," I say back.

"While we're here," Hugh says, "Yancy and I were meeting because of comic-con."

"Now isn't a good time Hugh," I hiss back, "I get that it freaks you out and it freaks me out too, but that can wait a little bit."

"Well, I think I have a-"

"SHUT UP."

It echoes through the cavern system.

"What was that?" a voice says faintly, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" His partner replies.

"I could've sworn I heard something."

"It's just this creepy sewer getting to you. The sooner we get out the better. I don't want to run into any clowns."

I breathe a sigh of relief that they decided not to investigate, "Later. Just, later."

"Fine," He says and nods.

"Alright," I say in a whisper, "Aura Sphere, now!"

Rio secretes small aura particles while spinning his hand to form a tornado that knocks both the Grunts off their feet.

"I was right! Someone is he-aaaaaaahhhh!"

"We really should've come up with a better strategy," I say, looking back at them.

"I think this works fine," Yancy says back.

"Well, we should at least go find them. Just follow the screams."

There is a consensus on that.

We start to run in their direction and proceed to get lost and split up.

"Just keep up the Aura Tornado," I tell Rio, "I doubt they have a way to counteract it and we should all be able to find our way there."

Yancy POV

I feel like I'm in fucking Scooby Doo; we get split up while looking for the bad guy.

"Well, all you have to do is follow the yells and screams," I say to myself.

'Rio', as Nate called him, said there were only 4 people here. Let's just hope the number didn't increase and I don't run into any of them.

"Well, well, well," a voice says, causing me to abruptly turn around.

I roll my eyes and growl, "Why the hell are you here?"

He acts offended, "Everytime I meet you, you ask that…"

"Fine," I sneer out again, "Is there a reason that you are present in this area that is publicly known as the Castelia Sewers."

He chuckles, "Thank you for asking. I was here to train, but since I met you here, why don't we have battle?"

The way he said it made it seem rhetorical; when I think about it though, it's kinda smart. The noise might attract Nate and Hugh which could get us back on track.

I pull out a Poké Ball and whisper, "Sorry for keeping you cooped up for so long."

"Just pick your Pokémon already."

I breathe in, "Amanda, it's your time!"

Hugh POV

"Aaaand we're separated," I sigh to the open air.

I shiver. It's not cold, but after what's happened in the past week or two, I'm always on edge. I hate it too. I can't act like my usual confident, jocular self. The best I can do for now is follow the screaming from the Team Plasma Grunts; it fills me with determination thinking about what they did years ago.

I start walking in the direction of what I think is the screaming.

Suddenly a new sound joins the cacophony, "Teeter Dance!"

The air around me starts to feel thicker and my vision gets blurry, "How...is...a Teeter...Dance...this...strong?"

I think this is how it feels to be drunk or confused. I'm losing a sense of direction, quiet sounds are loud and loud sounds are quiet. At least, I think that's how it works because I can't hear the Grunts anymore.

"NATE!" I try to yell, but my voice sounds quiet.

"Nate," I whisper instead, "Yancy? Where are you guys?"

Yancy POV

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO TO ME?!" Kain yells.

"Amanda, stop," I say calmly, "I just had my level 50 Spinda use Teeter Dance."

"BUT WHY THE FUCK DID YOU USE IT ON ME?!"

"I didn't," I reply, "Teeter Dance affects anyone within range."

"Oh," a voice says behind me, "You ran into some trouble?"

I wheel around to find Hugh, holding his head.

"Oh...I'm really sorry about that…" I say, genuinely sorry.

"THE HELL YOU ARE!" Kain continues to scream.

"So, where's Nate?" Hugh asks, ignoring him, "I don't see him…"

"I...thought he was with you?" I don't really, but I had no idea where he was.

"O...kay," Hugh says, clearly disappointed, "Well, we'd better go look for him."

"HOLD UP!" Kain yells.

"What?" Hugh sighs.

"Can I come with you guys? I've been meaning to ask him about last Friday."

We both froze, "You were there too?"

He stops, "Yeah, I don't remember anything from entering the theater area on."

Nate POV

The splitting headache just faded.

I hear the Grunts screaming, "WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK!"

"You alright Rio?" I ask, facing my Lucario.

"_Of course, sir,_" He broadcasts into my mind.

"Yeah, what am I talking about, you're always great. Well, let's go get 'em; we can meet up with the others later to talk about whatever it is that they wanted to talk about."

When we got separated, I guess I was closest to the Grunts because I'm right by them right now.

"Javon, YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!" one shouts.

"WHADDYA MEAN?! WE'RE IN A FUCKING TORNADO AND WE JUST GOT CONFUSED OR SOME SHIT!"

I look at Rio, trying not to laugh as I nod to him, signaling that he should just bind their arms and legs now.

A swish sound echoes through the air as the aura's form shifts.

"Hey! We're finally free!" the one named Javon says.

As he says this he tries running...only to trip and fall face first.

I burst out laughing, "How'd you guys not see this coming?"

"What?" the other one asks, "Wait! Holy shit! Javon i-it's him!"

"Y-you don't mean?"

"Y-yeah! I-It's Seamitar X!"

Team Mya

Name: Kokiri | Species: Krokorok | Level: 30 | Nature: Rash | Moveset: Earthquake, Bite, Assurance, Crunch

Name: Eev | Species: Eevee | Level: 28 | Nature: Adamant | Moveset: Swift, Quick Attack, Sand Attack, Double-Edge


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Note that I am accepting OCs for Aftermath, another story I will be working on! Anyways, enjoy!**

Yancy POV

"Wait," I say, holding up my hands, "You don't remember anything either?"

"No one does!" He says with exaggerated hand motions, "It's like everyone had their mind erased!"

Mind erased? Why does that sound familiar? As if it has already happened to me before…It hits me, I already forgot what happened during my headaches...it was...all I remember is, 'oh, but you shouldn't be here' or something along those lines…

"I think there are a lot more cards at play here than we know," Hugh says, looking around nervously, "Right now I think our best bet is to find Nate and those Grunts if they're still here.

"So that's what you're doing," Kain glares at me, "You could've just said that instead of confusing me."

"Sorry," I say, going back to my usual meek self.

Only now do I realize how odd it is for me to act out of turn like that...what is going on?! I'm going to have to go to a psychologist and ask about split personality disorders.

"No," I say.

"What?" Hugh asks, looking confused.

"We should wait here and compare stories. Nate has a Lucario that can sense auras so he can find us and the Grunts easier; plus, he'll have no problem battling if he can do that weird aura tornado thing."

Short silence, "Well, I guess you're right…"

And so it begins, "I'll start at the beginning I guess."

"I never knew my parents. I mean, they put me up for adoption right after birth. I was never adopted though and I was just transferred to a daycare where I lived my days uneventfully; that is, until I got my first Pokémon. I started my journey like anyone else etcetera," I say.

"That's good and all," Kain interrupts, "But can we focus?"

"I'm getting there," I say, still meekly, "Last Friday, I went to Comic-Con, as you all know. I entered the building at around 10 and...I went to the Riolu-Kid exhibit where I bought some stuff and had stuff signed...that's all I remember from that day…"

I turn to Hugh, "Is it more of the same for you?"

He nods, "Except I was rushing to make sure I had money for...for…"

He frowns.

"You don't remember?" Kain asks.

"N-no…"

He sighs, "It was the Mega Stone...a...Gardevoirite."

He looked like he struggled to remember it, "At 1, I entered the hall for the auction...and I don't remember past that…"

"So we all don't remember the auction itself?" Hugh points out, "Do you think somebody there had a powerful Psychic-type...like, maybe, a legendary?"

Kain shakes his head, "If they were going for memory loss, they would use Beheeyem. I say we figure out what Nate knows and then register each other in the X…"

"Why'd you pause?" I ask, a little confused as Kain's eyes glaze over a bit.

He shakes his head, "I was saying that we should...hear Nate's story."

Hugh and I look at each other, "Are you ok man?" Hugh asks.

"Yeah," Kain says, his eyes no longer glazed over, "Yeah I'm fine, just a headache."

I sigh, "I guess the confusion is still getting to him. We should probably escape outside and wait for Nate there."

Nate POV

"Who the hell is Seamitar X?" I yell.

"The kid with the powerful Lucario, Growlithe, and Samurott!" the 2nd Grunt says.

Great, Team Plasma has a codename for me, "What do you two know about May 18th?"

I start to tighten the aura restraints, "We don't know we don't know! We don't remember anything about the comic-con! One minute, Zinzolin is telling us to invade it, then the day is just suddenly over!"

I growl and Rio throws them off to the side, "Dammit! I was hoping for some sort of lead."

"Lead to what?" a voice echoes.

I turn to my left to see Burgh, the exact person I was looking for.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but eavesdrop after I noticed the two Team Plasma Grunts that you hurled downwind."

"It's fine," I say, as that was not what I was hoping to ask about, "I was actually looking for you so I could issue a challenge."

"Aah!" He exclaims giddily, "Challengers are so rare this far out from the championship! I hope your challenge has the merit to back it up."

"Excuse me," a third voice interrupts, "I heard that you, young man, are challenging the gyms and even Team Plasma themselves!"

"That's...right," I say, a little on edge now that this stranger has hopped into the conversation.

He nods grievously, "I hope you know that your persistence with Team Plasma will only cause trouble. They are not to be trifled with, especially by a respectable young fellow such as yourself."

I nod, equally serious, "They've hurt too many people, including my friend. Karma will come to them in the form of my horsemen of their apocalypse."

The man in the lab coat chuckles, "I like that. I feel that you bring out your Pokémon's Potential splendidly! I hope that we shall meet again whether it be in the field of science or on the field of battle."

With that, he walks away.

"I have...no idea who that was…" Burgh says, breaking the silence that follows, "Well, I'd better get back to my gym before there are more challengers. I'll meet you at the top!"

And now Burgh walks away.

"C'mon Rio," I say to my still present Lucario, "The others probably already made their way outside."

Javon POV

"Ugggggh," I say, it feels like I have multiple fractures and breaks.

"You insolent bitches!"

A kick to the ribs.

"You had one damn job and you failed!"

A harder kick.

"I-I'm s-sorry Mazta! The kid was there! Seamitar X!"

The admin growls, "I don't care. Dragonite, Hydreigon, Hyper Beam."

I am dying.

Yancy POV

Kain breathes a sigh of relief, "That musty sewer air was messing with my brain. I feel much better now."

An awkward silence falls over our small group.

"So," Hugh starts, "Where are we all going after this?"

"The Gym," Kain says, "I was really hoping that I could get ahead of Nate and then win when I challenge him next. How about you?"

"Same," Hugh shakes his head, "I remember when Nate was just the little kid that lived around the bend. Where did the time go? Anyways, how about you Yancy?"

I shift uncomfortably, "Well, maybe I could follow you guys and challenge the gym?"

They look at each other.

"Would it be your first challenge?"

I nod, "Yeah."

"That sounds cool," Hugh says, "Maybe you could follow suit and join the League Tournament in two years. I heard that the old Champion won't be retrying the League this year and that it'll be officially announced at the naming ceremony for the League."

Kain nods, "Yeah, I heard about that. Are you going?"

Hugh scoffs, "Those cost a hella high amou…"

I turn around to see what he is looking at.

"Hope I didn't miss much," Nate says and takes a seat at the table we're at.

? POV

"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea."

Yeah and when do you have good ideas? These kids must deliberately go out of their way to make my life difficult. Now I have to re-erase a lot of things and spend extra caution to make sure they don't meet again. It's just a couple fucking months away! Can't you just wait until then?!

"Of course they can't," I mutter to myself, "it must be the timeline's way of getting back at me for all the damage I've caused and am causing."

"Maybe not."

I wheel around and blast every sort of attack I can. The floor starts to violently spark and make high pitched grinding noises.

A second passes.

I cancel my attack.

What's left of the floor is charred, shattered, and has a gaping hole. This gaping hole quickly corrects itself, however, and the floor is normal again.

I blink a few times, "I must be seeing things."

So, now to spend an eternity trying to come up with a way to fix this.

Nate POV

"Let me get this straight," Burgh says, panning the view of tweens/teens in front of him, "You all want to challenge me...right now…"

"Ye-"

"AND ME!"

We all glance up, Burgh included, and I muffle a groan.

"Mya Donaldson, sir," she says sticking out her hand, "I was hoping to add a third Badge to my collection."

She turns to face my direction and her smile broadens a little bit, "Ohhh! Hiiii!"

This causes me to snap, "You better not ask for a fucking battle!"

She laughs a little, aggravating me more. "Oh don't worry, that glass battlefield has made me think twice about ever battling with you again."

Hugh cocks his head slightly, "Glass battlefield? Where is that?"

Impatiently, I describe how we met.

"Holy shit!" Kain yells at the end, "Sand melts at 1070 degrees!"

Everyone looks at him. "That's oddly specific information to know," Yancy points out, sounding...skeptical?

Kain opens his mouth to say something: an ear splitting, high pitched grinding noise.

Dear Mr. V,

The League regrets to inform you that your registration attempt has failed as a result of an error in your form of identification. Please feel free to resubmit your application when the error has been fixed.

With the best regards,

The League Committee


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey guys! An update where we find out what happens to Nate after the explosion of sound! Two reminders, reviews are always accepted and appreciated and I'm currently accepting OCs for my submit your OC story Aftermath! I hope you guys enjoy as always!**

Nate POV

"He's awake!" someone yells as my vision floods with dancing, ethereal lights.

"Where am I?" I ask looking at the tubes to my left and right.

"You're at the hospital Mr. Kyohei," the nurse smiles. "It's nice to see your hearing is working fine! That means the treatment worked."

"Hospital? Hearing? Treatment?" I say feeling heavily drugged, "I'm still lost."

She smiles again, "We know. And it will probably be that way for a couple days as the heavy anaesthetics wear off."

"But what happened?" I say, still trying to process why I was here.

Her smile falters for a second, "We've had a lot of people with very similar conditions to you and we think maybe a Kommo-o or Noivern got loose somewhere."

I stay silent.

"Well...you should try and get some rest," she says and walks out.

I stay silent for longer, thinking. How the hell could even a Pokemon do this much damage? A little bit is starting to come back to me. I remember blood soaking into my hair and pouring out of my ears...then how am I alive? Upon a second, more wakeful glance, I realize that the tubes are all going into my ears. Nothing is being fed through them, but I can hear a faint strumming sound, like a guitar. I peek out from around them and see a purple bodied, blue accented Pokemon.

A nurse walks in and I ask, "Excuse me? What Pokemon is that?"

She looks at it, "Ummm...It's a Toxtricity." she replies, looking deep in thought. "It has two different forms, an Amped form and a Low Key form. He's a Low Key form, we asked to have one for sound therapy and the healing of hearing. This guy just got transferred from Galar and just in time too!"

I breathe in and ask a question that I've been dreading to ask, "How long have I been here, and how long do I have to stay?"

"I'd say it's been a couple of days," the nurse smiles, again. "You're getting out today, but we're going to have to ask that you keep the Toxtricity and every night have it strum it's chest while you sleep. Have it sleep during the day as much as you can."

I nod, still confused as to why I'm being told this now instead of at the pharmacy counter.

"And," her smile widens, "Since you're taking part in the gym, we'll let you use him in battle too!"

The strumming falters for a second as he glares at me.

I turn back to the nurse, "You were obviously very attentive to me, but have you thought about the Toxtricity?"

Both the strumming and the nurses smile stop. "What?" I hear the nurse faintly, then the strumming picks back up.

"Well...we've given you your prescription and have discharged you, have a nice day!"

Yancy POV

I'm...awake? It's eerily quiet though...and the room is bathed in white. I'm scoffing. This must be a dream. I stop abruptly. Every time someone says that, they're not dreaming.

"Senses must still be pretty dull," a voice says. "Getting ruptured eardrums is not a pleasant feeling in the slightest."

I ask the most cliche question in the history of questions, "Who are you?"

He laughs, "Of all the people that would recognize me, I would expect you to."

His appearance starts to spin and shrink from a black expanse to a teenager probably no older than 16. He has spiky brown hair, sharp brown eyes, and a toned physique that suggests he spends many hours working out. I look down at his lower half and see a light gray pair of shorts with red-orange sports shoes.

"Am I supposed to know you?" I ask, confused and not trying to sound rude.

He shakes his head, "No, but a...man...can have his hopes can't he?"

"I...guess," I reply, still analyzing that last statement he made.

"So you're here because I can't have you dying on me. That would ruin this whole universe's potential." He smiles at me.

My head snaps in his direction, "I didn't ask you that."

"Of course you didn't," He replies, smiling. "Kind of hard to keep secrets from me though."

His body starts to morph back into what it was before...a body part of every legendary and mythical Pokemon ever…

It flaps its hundreds of wings, "I don't think you understand your importance to the survival of this timeline. Even though you were artificially added into it, along with others, their presence and your's are necessary."

I stay speechless and motionless.

"You won't remember this conversation," It states. "But time heals."

Nate POV

Iego skids backwards.

"Nice to know you want to be with me!" I shout.

He issues a deep growl, "Toxx…"

He lets out a huge bolt of electricity towards Iego.

"Just how we like 'em!" I shout again. "Iego, use Flame Wheel around yourself!"

By enveloping himself in the move, he protected himself from any damage from the Thunder.

"Charge at him!" I point and yell.

Iego barks and flies towards the Toxtricity.

"Heh, heh," the Toxtricity smirks.

His arm lit up with purple and started bubbling, "TOXIS!"

His arm scraped across Iego's Flame Charge.

The Toxtricity looked confident as Iego charged past him, but that only lasted a second as he looped back around faster than the Toxtricity could react.

A huge explosion issued and he went down in one hit.

"You're cocky," I remark as he attempts to stand, "I like that attitude at the very least."

Toxtricity flopped into a sitting position.

"You and I both know you're better with me than at that hospital," I say, the fact paining me, "The only thing I want from you is help healing me. You can spend the rest of your time doing whatever you like, enjoying it however you want."

He looked at me, not glared, actually looked at me. He took a deep look at me... and started to tear up. I wasn't exactly sure how to comfort a distressed Toxtricity, but I tried my best to do standard comforting phrases and actions.

At the end, he looked up at me and muttered something.

Somehow, I understood it as, "I want to battle."

I followed the nurse's instructions and asked Toxtricity to continue the sound while I slept, which he, surprisingly, did without a fuss. I also made an agreement to allow him to fight in my battle with Burgh.

"It shouldn't be too hard," I said to him, "You have the type advantage against two of his Pokemon."

He didn't seem too pleased with the aspect of not having a challenge, but begrudgingly agreed since he got the main point of getting to battle. I made my way from the camp I had set up to the Gym entrance...which was locked.

"Great," I sigh to the open air, "This is not ideal."

I massage my left ear, the vivid memory of blood issuing out of it uncontrollably coming back to me. Seeing as I have some time, I try thinking more in depth about how I survived that much blood loss. Of course, nothing comes to me. I guess I lost part of my memory with that blood.

I shake my head vigorously to see if it affects my hearing. Nothing. I can still hear the birds in the air and the rushing of waves. Everything sounds normal. That either means the hospital was making it seem a lot worse than it was, or the sound therapy really did work.

I feel a rumble in my pocket. Rio's Poke Ball.

I pull it out, suspecting the worst, "What's wrong Rio?"

"_Sir, Watt Jr. feels...uneasy…"_

"Uneasy...how?" I ask, perplexed, "Watt Jr. is never uneasy."

"_He senses a presence, one that I cannot detect. I don't know whether to believe him or not…"_

I look over my shoulder as the shadows appear to shorten, "I trust Watt Jr. with my life, but as long as no one attacks us, we should only be aware."

"_Understood sir," _he goes silent.

I look back over my shoulder, anxious. I then have the idea to check the pier. Watt Jr.'s connection to water was much stronger than Rio's ability to sense auras in water.

I checked, but only saw a small patch of ice, nothing too out of the ordinary.

I heard the Gym doors open, "I better get there before that Mya chick.

Team Nate:

Name: Watt Jr. | Species: Samurott | Level: 45 | Nature: Brave | Moveset: Blizzard, Razor Shell, Focus Energy, Scald

Name: Iego | Species: Growlithe | Level: 42 | Nature: Hardy | Moveset: Flamethrower, Flame Charge, Flame Wheel, Fire Fang

Name: Rio | Species: Lucario | Level: 42 | Nature: Mild | Moveset: Aura Sphere, Bone Rush, Power-Up Punch, Metal Claw

Name: N/A | Species: Toxtricity | Level: 35 | Nature: Bold | Moveset: Poison Jab, Venoshock, Thunder, Thunderbolt


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hello and Happy Easter! (If you celebrate it. If you don't, then I hope you just have a nice day!). Nate FINALLY challenges Burgh to a Gym Battle in this chapter. We'll have to see how it goes. Could Nate's journey and longing to become Champion be squashed by the Bug-type expert? I hope you guys enjoy!**

Kain POV

I looked at the letter and groaned.

"This is taking away from the time I could spend training or challenging the Gym."

But, I guess it's necessary, so I'm going. Upon arrival at the office in Castelia, the first thing I notice is the huge painting celebrating the current champion and his last victory two years prior.

"Majestic, isn't it?" the male receptionist said, something about his tone sounding familiar.

"Do you mean Valian?" I ask, gesturing at the highly detailed painting.

"Yes," he said, sounding perplexed, "Although, that's not why you're here. Let me pull up your registration Mr. Verness."

A chill ran down my spine. Did he know I was coming? No, I hadn't said anything. I decided to keep quiet for now."

"I just updated it with the proper ID," the man said, showing me the screen, "This is correct, right?"

This is when I knew something was up, I had just gotten a new ID two days ago, there's no way he would be able to pull it up.

"Is this a prank?" I growl, sending out my Ampharos, "Who put you up to this?"

I stop talking as my Ampharos backs down, obviously on-edge.

"What's wrong?"

The man chuckles, flexing his fingers. I look around noticing that nothing is moving.

"It's difficult y'know. Keeping your existence in this timeline fairly normal." he says.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask, still trying to look anywhere for movement besides this guy.

A huge, black shadow formed and I felt a hundred wings flap in a ripple effect. That was when I knew why my Ampharos was fearful.

"No, Kain Eldin Verness, this isn't a prank. In fact, it's the farthest thing from it."

I was speechless, this monster was both captivating, and horrendous.

"You are artificial in this universe," it said, "I created you to counteract the negative effects of Yancy."

I still said nothing.

"You won't remember this interaction, but I needed to plant a seed...and edit your identification to seal your existence."

I finally spoke up, "You're telling me that I don't exist?"

"Didn't," he corrects, "it's all complete now. Any other questions?"

A jumbled mess of haphazard thoughts flew through my head, but I was able to pluck one out from the storm.

"What happened on May 18th, at the comic convention?"

Hugh POV

I yawn and I pull myself up from the hotel bed.

"What time is it?" I groggily force out, to myself.

I glance at the clock, "HOLY SHIT!"

I jump out of bed and start throwing on clothes.

"WHERE'S MY BAG?! DAMMIT, WHERE IS IT!"

I finally find it, after fifteen minutes, and rush out the door towards the registration office. I go through the whole process of checking out and rush directly out the door, onto the busy streets of Castelia.

"Ughh," I mutter, "The gym opened three minutes ago! All of those other challengers probably got there before me and now I'm going to have to wait in a line!"

Lo and behold, I was right. Two people were already waiting in line with another person that pulled up right behind me.

"Dumbass League Committee," Kain mutters from behind me.

"What?"

"Oh, they made me late here," he remarks.

I turn to the person at the front of the line, "Hey, is someone challenging Burgh right now?"

I recognized her as she turned around, "That Nate guy is in there."

"When did you all get here?" I ask.

"Five minutes ago," the girl in front of me, who I recognized as Yancy, says.

"Six for me," Mya says.

I took a breath in, "When did Nate go in?"

"Right when you entered," she replies, "Burgh was running a little behind."

"Ah," I say, "Well, Nate should make quick work of him."

Nate POV

"Welcome!" Burgh says, "Terribly sorry for the delay, I had some paintings to finish up quickly."

I look around the room, "Are you sure you're done?"

He chuckles as paint drips everywhere, "I know, it's a little hectic, but it gives me great inspiration, especially during battle."

I nod.

"Well, enough with the conversation," he throws a silk cloak off of himself, "I am Burgh! Leader of the Castelia Gym!"

I pull out my first choice for the battle; Burgh does the same.

"Today, Nate, your Gym Challenge ends!"

"Toxtricity! Poison Jab!"

"Leavanny! Grass Whistle!"

Toxtricity and I practiced this whole matchup and what the possible moves were, possible combinations, so Toxtricity knew exactly what to do. He vigorously forced his arm across his chest so as to overpower Grass Whistle's sound. Flecks of liquid from the Poison Jab flew on Leavanny. The Leavanny shuddered.

"I see," Burgh says, "You've obviously come prepared. I'd say my chances of winning are pretty slim now."

We both withdrew our Pokemon at the same time and sent out new ones. I had studied Burgh's battles and was almost sure of what he would send out next.

"Watt Jr.! Use Scald!" I shouted before he had even exited the Poke Ball.

Dwebble was laying on the ground, already fainted.

Burgh looked appalled, "You have so much confidence as well. Sturdy didn't even work…"

He looked up at me, "I'll need to talk to you after this battle. Karrablast!"

I sent Toxtricity back in, "Your move."

"Endure! Then Struggle Bug!"

Toxtricity and I had even practiced what to do in the event of a physical attack. He brushed his claws against the scales causing an electrical current that was boosted by the conduction of the poison from Poison Jab. As Karrablast charged at Toxtricity, it was batted out of the air by a huge bolt that shot away from Toxtricity's arm. Burgh's Pokemon slammed into the wall. Knocked out.

"Your Pokemon are quite the spectacle," Burgh says, "I've never been beaten this badly."

"Yeah," I agree, "My team and I are ready for any challenge."

He nods slowly, "I suspect at this point you're the number one seed?"

I shrug, "I haven't checked the power rankings yet, actually."

"We can check at the end of the battle," he says, "Shelmet, Mega Drain!"

"Toxtricity, charge."

Toxtricity rushes forward launching Thunderbolts to block the Mega Drains as they come. He jumps and slams down on the ground, sending bolts through to Shelmet. A huge flash lights the room up and Shelmet is down too.

"Heh," Burgh says, returning Shelmet, "If all of the challengers are like this, I better start doing massive amounts of training."

"Oh they're not," I assure, clenching my fist.

"I'm more interested in your story than this battle," Burgh remarks, "So let's wrap this up, Leavanny!"

"If you insist," I sigh, throwing my arm in a sweeping gesture.

Toxtricity swipes his claws across his chest spewing noxious liquid onto the Leavanny. It comes out with such force that the place where Karrablast hit, cracks even further.

Burgh returns his Leavanny, "Now begin your story. There's no way someone as young as you becomes this strong without a motive."

I breathe in. Should I trust him?

"It's a little bit tragic," I say, "Have you ever heard of Cole Kyohei?"

Cole Kyohei:

Date of Death: 5/10/xxxx

Cause of death: Mewtwo

We have told the wife that the cause of death was the evil Team Magma.. She seems to believe it, but the son knows. Somehow. He's showing behavioral signs of following in his father's footsteps. We don't think we can let that happen.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Sorry about the long hiatus! I have been really busy with school and trying to look into colleges (I'm still a ways off but it doesn't hurt to be ahead). As a reminder, I'm working on Aftermath still, so if you want to submit an OC, review the requirements and PM me or post a review on Aftermath. I'd like to thank the returning people if any. This story is a huge passion of mine and to see people legitimately enjoying it boosts my confidence and self-esteem a lot. Here's Chapter 11:**

Nate POV

"If I remember correctly," Burgh starts, "He was a Hoenn Champion."

"He was also my father," I add on.

Burgh nods, "And you want to follow in his footsteps but in this region?"

I shake my head which elicits a look of surprise from Burgh.

"Why did you bring him up then?" he asks.

"He was brutally murdered by an abomination," I pause, "Mewtwo."

He frowns, " The Committee told me that Mewtwo doesn't exist to the public, that they had tried to keep information about it secret."

"I'm not your average citizen," I point out.

He shrugs, "Fair point, but I still don't see where this is going."

"I was getting to that. The Committee that you speak of has tarnished my father's name by claiming he's responsible for all the deaths that Mewtwo has been causing," I clench my fist.

"I want to get back at the system that wronged my father. I'm going to become the Champion, defeat Mewtwo, and bring the broken system to its knees."

"You say broken," Burgh finally pipes up, "But how is it broken?"

"Only the strong prosper," I growl, "The only way anyone can get anywhere is through brute force. The weak are taken advantage of too much. I'm going to eradicate that."

Burgh nods, "Sounds quite noble of you."

"I'm not in it for nobility."

He hands me the Insect Badge and a TM, "Alright, well tell the next person to come in."

I opened the door and gestured in.

"Wow," Hugh says, "You sure took your time."

"Oh, please," I flick my wrist, "It was probably a world record timing."

He scoffs, "Yeah, by only half an hour."

"Ha ha," I remark sarcastically.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," Hugh says, "I have a line to wait in."

Hugh POV

I just spent my whole day waiting in line. Well, not technically, but I did spend three hours in line. With how long everyone took, you'd think they were doing things besides Gym battles. Anyways, it took me a while, but I secured my name yet again in the League Championship.

At the end of the battle, Burgh asked something odd of me, "Check the power rankings."

That's what I'm going to do right now. I was a little surprised at first, I didn't even know they kept track of Challengers' journeys. The list was fairly extensive, full of people who tried their luck at the Gyms the second the last tournament, the Coveted League, I believe, finished. The number one seed was some person named Osian Black. Another nifty thing I figured out is it shows all of the trainers' Pokemon. Osian appeared to be a mostly Dark-type trainer with Sableye, Pangoro, Drapion, and Zoroark. His other two Pokemon were Yanmega and a Dusk Forme Lycanroc. Seeing as number one has all eight badges, I check the top 3, number two Alexander Ochoa and number three...Nate Kyohei.

I immediately clicked the description button that was placed under his name.

"While only having just obtained his third badge, Nate Kyohei's demolition of Cheren, Roxie, and Burgh are well faster than even Champion Valian's attempts on any of his runs. Not to mention, his team could rival most all of the trainers on this list. With a reported level 45 Samurott, 42 Lucario, 42 Arcanine, and 35 Toxtricity, his levels surpass the average considerably."

I'm appalled. Not only by Nate's feat, but also by the site's ability to keep up with Trainers, especially since we edit so much so often. I click over to the 'information' tab to see how they do this.

"You require an administrative account in order to access this page."

A look of confusion crosses my face as I try to reload the page.

"You require an administrative account in order to access this page."

Maybe I mistook information for something it wasn't. I still have a little time before I should start moving on to Nimbasa, so I search for my name.

"Hugh Hyu, Seed #647/2103."

I scoff, "Of course more people are going to join now that the old Champion is stepping down. They think they have a higher chance of victory."

The League Championships here in Unova have always been 512 participant, double-elimination tournaments, so as of now, I'm not even in the tournament. A sigh escapes my lips as I close my open tab.

"We'll see where I'm at after Elesa," I look towards the terminal, "Nimbasa is sure to hold a lot."

Nate POV

Seeing as Burgh had a line of trainers waiting, I decided to check the power rankings on my own time. I was, admittedly, a little disappointed in my placement when I first checked. Number three. Now, I'm fine with it. I've scheduled myself to leave Castelia for training on Route 4 tomorrow. I don't want to get to far behind other trainers or Hugh, but I'm tired as fuck.

"Tomorrow," I say, checking into a hotel for the rest of the day and night, "Route 4 and Nimbasa. I'll be halfway there."

Kain POV

Dumbass League Committee. I was waiting for nearly five hours outside the Gym Leader's room because of their inconvenience. When I finally got in there and got out, it was after noon. Damn them and their whole stupid system. At this point, Hugh and Nate are probably already at Nimbasa.

I rub my eyes, "Well, I give up. I'm just going to wait it out and leave tomorrow."

"Fate will come for you all in Nimbasa," it was an old man.

I blink, "You're him, aren't you? The guy who said he 'inserted' me into this timeline."

"You're surprisingly perceptive, kiddo," he smiles, "Yes, I am."

"So," I gulp, "What you said at the Committee HQ...it was...true?"

His face turns serious, "It would be best if you forgot what I told you."

"Why don't you just force me to?" I ask.

He starts to turn younger, "Do you know how long and hard the process of neural editing is?"

I back off, the aura emanating from him is strong and intimidating, "I don't."

"I've perfected it and it still takes me 20 years," he says, glowering, "I have to slow down time around me and everywhere else in order to do it. It's taxing and annoying."

"Well," I say, confidence regained, "I'll just leave then, if you're not going to force me to forget."

I came to a forceful stop, "No, you will forget."

I unfreeze, but the world around me is frozen now.

"I disagree," I say, now pissed, "And I'll fight for it."

I send Ampharos out, "We're not backing down."

Ampharos seems to understand this and tries his best to force himself to be brave.

"Electro Ball!"

The thing holds up his hand and absorbs it, "Even your friend Nate can't beat me."

"He's not even my friend!" I bark, "Zap Cannon!"

Ampharos charges up a huge blast and fires it off. The whole blast envelops him.

"That was easier than I expected," I say after having held my breath for thirty seconds.

I high-five my Ampharos, "Nice job buddy!"

An enormous blast of fire slams into Ampharos.

"You're lucky I can't kill you or your Pokemon," he rubs his wrist.

"A-Ampharos!" I yell, "You're asking for it you bitch! Pignite!"

"You still persist?"

"Pignite! Rollout!"

Pignite rolls into a ball and fires off at high speeds, dodging multiple blasts from him.

"Tch," he says.

Pignite hit the mark!

"Keep at it!" I say.

Pignite nods and right as she turns around the thing slams into her which makes her slam into me. As I feel the wind get knocked out of me, the thing walks up to me.

He lifts my head up, "Why don't you understand that this doesn't result well for you if you keep fighting or if you remember?! You'd ruin everything!"

I gasp for air, "I-" gasp, "Won't."

He scoffs, "You have no idea how long I've worked for this. I'm not the bad guy! I'm trying to save this timeline!"

It was my turn to read his mind, "No-you're not."

He straightens his back and I see goosebumps form on his skin, "Why do you think that?"

"You're as-open as a book."

The thing finally let's go of my head and turns around, "Well...fine, you're right. I'm saving one person," he wheels back around, "And you're lucky enough to be important in saving her."

I gasp some more, my breath still not quite coming back to me.

"Or else," his hand flays apart down to the bone and then curls back to its proper placement.

I puke at this macabre example and finally stand up, "Who knew gods were so selfish."

I pull out my next choice of Pokemon, "Lucario! Tranquill! Psyduck!"

My three Pokemon pop out of their Poke Balls, "Bone Rush! Air Cutter! Zen Headbutt!"

They charge at the thing, throwing out whatever they can. Sadly, I am outmatched. Every time one of my Pokemon tries an attack, he blocks it and a new appendage extends, battering them into a wall or the ground.

Lucario tries staying toe-to-toe with him, but he's doing terribly.

I try to think of some strategy, something that will help him. Slam. Too late.

The thing walks up to me and puffs out air, "Well, this was fun."

I struggle to look at my six Pokemon, strewn around me, "I...failed this badly?"

"You did," he gestures to my Pokemon, "Why can't you see?"

I gulp, breathe in, out, in, out, "You're wrong, I do see, but what I see is a distorted vision of an entity that doesn't give a fuck about us."

"Wrong and right," he says, "As humans tend to be. Anyways, I won."

I black out.

Team Kain

Name: Ampharos | Species: Ampharos | Level: 31 | Nature: Naive | Moveset: Thunder, Thunderbolt, Electro Ball, Confuse Ray

Name: Pignite | Species: Pignite | Level: 30 | Nature: Lax | Moveset: Flame Charge, Take Down, Arm Thrust, Rollout

Name: Lucario | Species: Lucario | Level: 30 | Nature: Hasty | Moveset: Aura Sphere, Power-Up Punch, Metal Claw, Bone Rush

Name: Leavanny | Species: Leavanny | Level: 30 | Nature: Timid | Moveset: Razor Leaf, Slash, Bug Bite, Helping Hand

Name: Psyduck | Species: Psyduck | Level: 30 | Nature: Mild | Moveset: Confusion, Zen Headbutt, Disable, Aqua Tail

Name: Tranquill | Species: Tranquill | Level: 30 | Nature: Rash | Moveset: Detect, Air Cutter, Roost, Quick Attack


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Hello again guys! There's a couple of things I'd like to say before you read this chapter. First, I'm still hoping, and looking, for OCs for Aftermath, a story that takes place 8 years after this one. Second, I'd like to assure you that the Burst Affinity back a few chapters was not just a throwaway, but won't be brought up again for a while. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this episode!**

Yancy POV

I wasn't really expecting the Gym to be easy, and I was right. It was moderately difficult, but nothing too hard.

I call Gaster, "Can I get an INCONSPICUOUS ride into Nimbasa?"

I hear him chuckle on the other side of the line, "I believe you're supposed to say please?"

"Right, right," I say, "May I please have a ride in something very inconspicuous to Nimbasa?"

"Is Phoebe fine with it?" he asks.

"She wants me to interview Elesa, of course she's fine with it."

"I meant being anonymous."

He laughs and I can just about see his wide grin from this side of the line. Well, I actually can. That's half of the functionality of an Xtransceiver.

"You're the chauffeur," I sigh, "You're the one that picks out the car, so if it goes wrong I blame you."

"Of course, of course," he says, hanging up.

"Sometimes I just can't with him," I say to my Spinda.

She nods like she understands.

Now I just wait for Gaster. I hear a knock.

"Speak of the Devil," I mutter under my breath and go to open the door.

As I swing the door open, he gestures to the car he brought. A slightly beat up, bright blue beetle.

I throw a glare in his direction, "Really?"

He smirks, "Why yes, my young lady, it is inconspicuous as you requested."

I don't say anything and just walk up to the car.

"You're going to be late!" Phoebe shouts, "You have 10 minutes and you just got to Nimbasa?!"

"I know, I know!" I force out running to the Gym where my changing room is, "I'll be there, bye!"

I try to shove my Xtransceiver into my bag as I run. I don't check if I succeeded or not because I don't have time, I just keep running.

As I burst into my changing room, gasping, I check the clock. Eight minutes. I breathe a sigh of relief and then rush to get my hair done and outfit on.

Nate POV

I yawn and look around the room. My Pokemon didn't wake me up with loud, blaring music today.

"That's a first," I say to the open air, "Time to pack up and head for Route 4."

I pull out my Poke Balls and notice that Watt Jr. is missing. I run to the window and scan the surrounding areas for a sight of him. Nothing. I throw myself towards the door and open it.

"You...remember me?" I hear a voice tearfully say.

"Of course I do," a voice I instantly recognized as Watt Jr's says, "But I cannot go with you. It pains me...but I must go with him now."

"I recognize that," the second voice says, "He understands you in every way but speech. However, that's where I've helped out, he has been able to understand what you say and he will even now."

"Watt Jr!" I finally call out.

He turns the corner of a corridor to my right and walks towards me.

"Hey!" a new voice calls out from my left: a hotel employee.

"Is that your Samurott?" he glares at me.

"It is, and it is also completely well-mannered," I say.

"This beast," he gestures to the quadruped sea lion Pokemon, "Is forbidden from walking the halls alone."

I return Watt Jr and send out Rio who pulls out a bone of aura.

"_The only will we obey is Nate's,_" he says, telepathically to me and the man.

"If you want to start a fight," I say, "we would be happy to oblige, and it won't result well."

"Fine," he snarls after a minute of silence.

The second I stepped onto Route 4, I could tell it was in disarray. A sandstorm was and still is raging and now there are Crustle blocking my path.

"Dammit," I sigh, "We may as well add another member to the party."

I look at Rio, Iego, Toxtricity, and Watt Jr, "How would you guys like that?"

"_It would be a fine strategy,_" Rio says in waves of aura.

Iego just wags his tail and looks happily at me.

"Fine," Watt Jr nods.

"When are you going to name me?"

I turn to Toxtricity, "That's the first time I've heard you talk. Would you mind explaining how Watt Jr?"

He looks a little nervous, "A strong connection with us Pokemon enables you to understand our speech methods and body language."

I look him over. I know that that isn't true based on whatever conversation he was having with whoever it was this morning, but I let it slide.

"Hmmm," I think aloud, "Your goal is to be the best battler, so how about Elite?"

He grins, "Nice."

I smile back at him when a Sandile walks up to me.

She opens her mouth happily, then closes it. Then repeats.

"Hey, little girl," I say, "Did our positivity infect you?"

"Dile! Dile!" she chomps down on my ankle.

I wince a little in pain, but hold back a laugh. My Pokemon instantly try to attack her.

"It's okay," I say, "She's just playful."

I throw a Great Ball down at my ankle and the Sandile enters it.

The Ball instantly flashes green, "See?"

They relax a little.

A man starts clapping behind me, "I see you are quite the charismatic for Pokemon. You bring out their potential quite well."

I turn around to see who it is that's talking to me.

He flashes a smile, "As I said when we first met, you bring out the potential of your Pokemon quite well."

"There's no way this is coincidence," I say, releasing the Sandile I just caught from her Poke Ball.

"Right you are," he bows, "I am Colress. Might I be entertained with a two-on-two battle?"

"What for?" I say, a little suspicious.

"That goes back to my bit about potential," Colress says, "The theme of my research is how does a Pokemon's true potential shine through. Seeing as you beat Burgh, I can tell your Pokemon have achieved part of that potential and I would like to see it first hand."

"And what is your conclusion so far?" I say, trying to decide who to use.

"So far," he starts, "Only that Team Plasma's original plan of "liberation" was the wrong tactic. Show me if that conclusion is acceptable."

I quickly formulate a name for the Sandile and turn to it, "Hey, does the name Kueia sound nice to you?"

She cocks her head.

"I'll take that as a yes," I turn back to Colress, "Make your decision."

"Gladly," he sends out a Magnemite

I pull out my Pokedex and take a quick glance at Kueia's moveset. I specialize in on-the-fly strategy, but I think this is a little bit extreme.

"Sand Tomb!" I make the first move.

Colress lets his Magnemite get hit and it's already weak and taking residual damage.

"For having just caught that Pokemon, you control it masterfully. I'm not sure science can even explain that," he throws his arm out, "But that doesn't matter, Magnemite, use Magnet Bomb."

"Bury yourself to avoid it!"

I shout this out, already hopeless since Magnet Bomb seeks out a target, but then an idea comes to me.

As the magnets whiz by the ground I yell to Kueia, "Jump behind Magnemite!"

Colress looks surprised by this and even more so when she jumps behind his Magnemite and an explosion hits it.

"Quite impressive," Colress says.

My Pokedex buzzes. Kueia would like to learn Crunch. I click yes and have her forget Mud Slap.

"Well, it's no wonder," Colress chips in.

"What?"

"Every time a new championship starts," he continues, "Juniper hands out three Pokedexes and three special Pokemon to the people she suspects of being amazing trainers or coming from families where someone is special, and every time one of the three ends up winning the Champion title."

I return Kueia, "Sounds like good luck for me."

"Possibly," he sends out his second Pokemon: a Klink.

"Watt Jr," I say, pointing a finger.

Again, Colress lets me make the first move. This is going to be his first and last mistake.

"Focus Energy! Then Scald!"

Watt Jr rushes forward and glares at the Klink. It tries avoiding his gaze and the moment it lowers its gaze, Watt Jr grabs it, launching blazing water at point blank range.

An instant KO.

He pulls the Klink back into its Poke Ball, "Splendid! Now that you have done something for me, I shall do something for you."

He presses a button on a device and snaps his fingers. The ground trembles as the Crustle wake up.

"I hope we meet again, fair trainer," he starts to walk away.

"Nate," I say while he's still in earshot.

I spent a lot of time training on Route 4. My team was mopping the floor with the wild Pokemon. The only one I didn't train was Kueia. I figure that brute force wouldn't be a good first impression to make on her even though our first experience was fighting Colress.

"I'll train her on the routes by Nimbasa," I say to myself.

"Sir!" a man a few years older than me says, "Sir! You're a Pokemon trainer, right!?"

I look at his frantic face which is eye level with me, "I am."

"How many badges do you have!?" his breathing is heavy too.

"Three," I respond, "Now let me ask you something, why do you care?"

"Please," he pants, "There's a Mega evolved Pokemon rampaging in the Desert Resort! I've been trying to tell people for the last half hour, but they just claim it's not their job and that I should find a real trainer."

"What Pokemon? And how did it Mega evolve without a trainer?"

"I-I don't know," he stammers out, "Please help."

I rush in the direction of the Resort, the man at my heels. As we get closer, I can hear the sounds of a Mega Aggron.

As we run, I ask the man, "Why were you even this far out here?"

He opens his mouth when a deafening roar breaks through and the Aggron is just about right in front of us. A flood of Trapinch run over in our direction as the Mega Aggron punches the ground.

One stays behind, attempting to distract the Aggron while the others make their escape. Even with its type advantage, the Trapinch is easily overpowered.

"Watt Jr!" I yell to my Samurott, "Keep him busy!"

Before the Mega Aggron could deliver the final blow, Watt Jr. slashed at it.

The hulking thing was somehow able to dodge and started grappling with my Samurott. While he kept it busy, I rushed in and scooped up the Trapinch. It tried to squirm out of my grasp to fight the seven foot giant.

"You're in no condition," I yell at it over the raging sandstorm and Mega Aggron's roars.

I turn and see Watt Jr slide back 20 feet.

"Razor Shell!" I yell to him.

He swings his seamitar just in time to block an incoming Iron Tail from the Mega Aggron.

"Try to burn it!"

Watt Jr understands and blasts a Scald in the Aggron's face.

It staggers back, trying to rub the hot water out of its eyes. How did this even happen? I try to rack my brain for anything that might show why.

"I'll help you," Colress' voice echoes in my brain.

Maybe, whatever he used to awaken the Crustle, also powered up this Aggron.

"At this rate," the man who brought me here says, "Your Samurott will win."

"Sadly," I growl, "I don't think he's enough. Kueia! Iego! I need you!"

Both scuddle up, awaiting directions.

"Help Watt Jr." I say, pointing to the Aggron, "Flamethrower! Then trap it with Sand Tomb!"

Right as the Mega Pokemon stopped rubbing its eyes and glared at Watt Jr, Iego launched a blast of fire so powerful, it was pushing it backwards.

Watt Jr saw the opportunity and used it to trip the Pokemon with Razor Shell until Kueia came in and trapped it with Sand Tomb. The Aggron tried to stand up, but the fire and sand tornado had weakened it enough.

"One more time!" I yell at them as the Mega Aggron is still, well, Mega.

The final hits do the Aggron in and it crashes to the floor, causing the whole ground to shake. I wipe the sweat off of my forehead and look back to the Trapinch. It's giving the most starry-eyed look I have ever seen a Pokemon give. It keeps looking back and forth between Watt Jr, Iego, and Kueia.

I kneel down to it, "Are you okay?"

It just turns up to me, looking even more starry-eyed.

I turn to my team, then back to the Trapinch, "Did you want to come with us?"

It puts on this fake "I don't want to go with you," attitude.

I roll my eyes and turn to the man, "Why did you need a trainer? You aren't one?"

His frantic look turns completely serious now that the Aggron is subdued, "I was."

I look at him, "What's your name?"

"I used to be renowned," he scoffs, "Just shows what a year disgraced does."

"Disgraced?" I ask.

"I was the Champion a few years back," he says, "My name is Hilbert."

Team Nate

Name: Watt Jr. | Species: Samurott | Level: 48 | Nature: Brave | Moveset: Razor Shell, Focus Energy, Scald, Blizzard

Name: Iego | Species: Growlithe | Level: 47 | Nature: Hardy | Moveset: Flamethrower, Flame Charge, Flame Wheel, Fire Fang

Name: Rio | Species: Lucario | Level: 46 | Nature: Mild | Moveset: Aura Sphere, Power-Up Punch, Metal Claw, Bone Rush

Name: Elite | Species: Toxtricity | Level: 46 | Nature: Bold | Moveset: Thunder, Poison Jab, Venoshock, Overdrive

Name: Kueia | Species: Sandile (?) | Level: 31 | Nature: Jolly | Moveset: Crunch, Assurance, Sand Tomb, Dig

(Maybe?)

Name: N/A | Species: Trapinch | Level: 32 | Nature: Sassy | Moveset: ?, ?, ?, ?

**Hilbert? But the new champion is Valian? What could have happened and how much time has passed?**


End file.
